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LETTERS OF

PLINY THE YOUNGER


A STUDY OF SIX LEAVES OF AN UNCIAL
MANUSCRIPT PRESERVED IN
THE PIERPONT MORGAN LIBRARY
NEW YORK

BY

E. A. LOWE
ASSOCIATE OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON
SANDARS READER AT CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY (1914)
LECTURER IN PALAEOGRAPHY AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY

AND

E. K. RAND
PROFESSOR OF LATIN IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY

PUBLISHED BY THE

CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON, 1922

CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON


Publication No. 304

LETTERS OF PLINY THE YOUNGER 1


Pliny Letters, Fragment

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS


CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
U. S. A.

iii

PREFATORY NOTE.

T HE Pierpont Morgan Library, itself a work of art, contains masterpieces of painting and sculpture, rare
books, and illuminated manuscripts. Scholars generally are perhaps not aware that it also possesses the oldest
Latin manuscripts in America, including several that even the greatest European libraries would be proud to
own. The collection is also admirably representative of the development of script throughout the Middle Ages.
It comprises specimens of the uncial hand, the half-uncial, the Merovingian minuscule of the Luxeuil type, the
script of the famous school of Tours, the St. Gall type, the Irish and Visigothic hands, and the Beneventan and
Anglo-Saxon scripts.

Among the oldest manuscripts of the library, in fact the oldest, is a hitherto unnoticed fragment of great
significance not only to palaeographers, but to all students of the classics. It consists of six leaves of an early
sixth-century manuscript of the Letters of the younger Pliny. This new witness to the text, older by three
centuries than the oldest codex heretofore used by any modern editor, has reappeared in this unexpected
quarter, after centuries of wandering and hiding. The fragment was bought by the late J. Pierpont Morgan in
Rome, in December 1910, from the art dealer Imbert; he had obtained it from De Marinis, of Florence, who
had it from the heirs of the Marquis Taccone, of Naples. Nothing is known of the rest of the manuscript.

The present writers had the good fortune to visit the Pierpont Morgan Library in 1915. One of the first
manuscripts put into their hands was this early sixth-century fragment of PlinyâΠ–s Letters, which forms the
subject of the following pages. Having received permission to study the manuscript and publish results, they
lost no time in acquainting classical scholars with this important find. In December of the same year, at the
joint meeting of the American Archaeological and Philological Associations, held at Princeton University,
two papers were read, one concerning the palaeographical, the other the textual, importance of the fragment.
The two studies which follow, Part I by Doctor Lowe, Part II by Professor Rand, are an elaboration of the
views presented at the meeting. Some months after the present volume was in the form of page-proof,
Professor E. T. MerrillâΠ–s long-expected edition of PlinyâΠ–s Letters appeared (Teubner, Leipsic, 1922). We
regret that we could not avail ourselves of it in time to introduce certain changes. The reader will still find
Pliny cited by the pages of Keil, and in general he should regard the date of our production as 1921 rather than
1922.

iv The writers wish to express their gratitude for the privilege of visiting the Pierpont Morgan Library and
making full use of its facilities. For permission to publish the manuscript they are indebted to the generous
interest of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan. They also desire to make cordial acknowledgment of the unfailing
courtesy and helpfulness of the Librarian, Miss Belle da Costa Greene, and her assistant, Miss Ada Thurston.
Lastly, the writers wish to thank the Carnegie Institution of Washington for accepting their joint study for
publication and for their liberality in permitting them to give all the facsimiles necessary to illustrate the
discussion.

E. K. RAND.

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE, MASS. U. S. A. 2


Pliny Letters, Fragment

E. A. LOWE.

CONTENTS.
Part I. The Palaeography of the Morgan Fragment. By E. A. Lowe.
Description of the Fragment
Contents, size, vellum, binding
Ruling
Relation of the six leaves to the rest of the manuscript
Original size of the manuscript
Disposition
Ornamentation
Corrections
Syllabification
Orthography
Abbreviations
Authenticity of the six leaves
Archetype
The Date and Later History of the Manuscript
On the dating of uncial manuscripts
Dated uncial manuscripts
Oldest group of uncial manuscripts
Characteristics of the oldest uncial manuscripts
Date of the Morgan manuscript
Later history of the Morgan manuscript
Conclusion
Transcription
Part II. The Text of the Morgan Fragment. By E. K. Rand.
The Morgan Fragment and AldusâΠ–s Ancient Codex Parisinus
The Codex Parisinus
The Bodleian volume
The Morgan fragment possibly a part of the lost Parisinus
The script
Provenience and contents
The text closely related to that of Aldus
Editorial methods of Aldus
vi Relation of the Morgan Fragment to the Other Manuscripts of the Letters
Classes of the manuscripts
The early editions
Π a member of Class I
Î the direct ancestor of BF with probably a copy intervening

PREFATORY NOTE. 3
Pliny Letters, Fragment

The probable stemma


Further consideration of the external history of P, Î , and B
Evidence from the portions of BF outside the text of Î
Editorial Methods of Aldus
AldusâΠ–s methods; his basic text
The variants of Budaeus in the Bodleian volume
Aldus and Budaeus compared
The latest criticism of Aldus
AldusâΠ–s methods in the newly discovered parts of Books VIII, IX, and X
The Morgan fragment the best criterion of Aldus
Conclusion
Description of Plates

Part I.

THE PALAEOGRAPHY OF THE MORGAN FRAGMENT

BY

E. A. LOWE

THE PALAEOGRAPHY OF THE MORGAN FRAGMENT.


DESCRIPTION OF THE FRAGMENT.

Contents
size
vellum

binding T HE Morgan fragment of Pliny the Younger contains the end of Book II and the beginning of
Book III of the Letters (II, xx. 13-III, v. 4). The fragment consists of six vellum leaves, or twelve pages, which
apparently formed part of a gathering or quire of the original volume.

The leaves measure 11-3/8 by 7 inches (286 x 180 millimeters); the written space measures 7-1/4 by 4-3/8
inches (175 x 114 millimeters); outer margin, 1-7/8 inches (50 millimeters); inner, 3/4 inch (18 millimeters);
upper margin, 1-3/4 inches (45 millimeters); lower, 2-1/4 inches (60 millimeters).

The vellum is well prepared and of medium thickness. The leaves are bound in a modern pliable vellum
binding with three blank vellum fly-leaves in front and seven in back, all modern. On the inside of the front
cover is the book-plate of John Pierpont Morgan, showing the Morgan arms with the device: Onward and
Upward. Under the book-plate is the press-mark M.462.

CONTENTS. 4
Pliny Letters, Fragment

Ruling There are twenty-seven horizontal lines to a page and two vertical bounding lines. The lines were
ruled with a hard point on the flesh side, each opened sheet being ruled separately: 48v and 53r, 49r and 52v,
50v and 51r. The horizontal lines were guided by knife-slits made in the outside margins quite close to the text
space; the two vertical lines were guided by two slits in the upper margin and two in the lower. The horizontal
lines were drawn across the open sheets and extended occasionally beyond the slits, more often just beyond
the perpendicular bounding lines. The written space was kept inside the vertical bounding lines except for the
initial letter of each epistle; the first letter of the address and the first letter of the epistle proper projected into
the left margin. Here and there the scribe transgressed beyond the bounding line. On the whole, however, he
observed the limits and seemed to prefer to leave a blank before the bounding line rather than to crowd the
syllable into the space or go beyond the vertical line.

Relation of the six leaves to the rest of the manuscript One might suppose that the six leaves once
formed a complete gathering of the original book, especially as the first and last pages, folios 48r and 53v
have a darker appearance, as though they had been the outside leaves of a gathering that had been affected by
exposure. But this darker appearance is sufficiently accounted for by the fact that both pages are on the hair
side of the parchment, and the 4 hair side is always darker than the flesh side. Quires of six leaves or trinions
are not unknown. Examples of them may be found in our oldest manuscripts. But they are the exception.1 The
customary quire is a gathering of eight leaves, forming a quaternion proper. It would be natural, therefore, to
suppose that our fragment did not constitute a complete gathering in itself but formed part of a quaternion.
The supposition is confirmed by the following considerations:

In the first place, if our six leaves were once a part of a quaternion, the two leaves needed to complete them
must have formed the outside sheet, since our fragment furnishes a continuous text without any lacuna
whatever. Now, in the formation of quires, sheets were so arranged that hair side faced hair side, and flesh
side flesh side. This arrangement is dictated by a sense of uniformity. As the hair side is usually much darker
than the flesh side the juxtaposition of hair and flesh sides would offend the eye. So, in the case of our six
leaves, folios 48v and 53r, presenting the flesh side, face folios 49r and 52v likewise on the flesh side; and
folios 49v and 52r presenting the hair side, face folios 50r and 51v likewise on the hair side. The inside pages
50v and 51r which face each other, are both flesh side, and the outside pages 48r and 53v are both hair side, as
may be seen from the accompanying diagram.

From this arrangement it is evident that if our fragment once formed part of a quaternion the missing sheet
was so folded that its hair side faced the present outside sheet and its flesh side was on the outside of the
whole gathering. Now, it was by far the more usual practice in our oldest uncial manuscripts to have the flesh
side on the outside of the quire.2 And as our fragment belongs to the oldest 5 class of uncial manuscripts, the
manner of arranging the sheets of quires seems to favor the supposition that two outside leaves are missing.
The hypothesis is, moreover, strengthened by another consideration. According to the foliation supplied by
the fifteenth-century Arabic numerals, the leaf which must have followed our fragment bore the number 54,
the leaf preceding it having the number 47. If we assume that our fragment was a complete gathering, we are

DESCRIPTION OF THE FRAGMENT. 5


Pliny Letters, Fragment

obliged to explain why the next gathering began on a leaf bearing an even number (54), which is abnormal.
We do not have to contend with this difficulty if we assume that folios 47 and 54 formed the outside sheet of
our fragment, for six quires of eight leaves and one of six would give precisely 54 leaves. It seems, therefore,
reasonable to assume that our fragment is not a complete unit, but formed part of a quaternion, the outside
sheet of which is missing.

Original size of the manuscript In the fifteenth century, as the previous demonstration has made clear,
our fragment was preceded by 47 leaves that are missing to-day. With this clue in our possession it can be
demonstrated that the manuscript began with the first book of the Letters. We start with the fact that not all the
47 folios (or 94 pages) which preceded our six leaves were devoted to the text of the Letters. For, from the
contents of our six leaves we know that each book must have been preceded by an index of addresses and first
lines. The indices for Books I and II, if arranged in general like that of Book III, must have occupied four
pages.3 We also learn from our fragment that space must be allowed for a colophon at the end of each book.
One page for the colophons of Books I and II is a reasonable allowance. Accordingly it follows that out of the
94 pages preceding our fragment 5 were not devoted to text, or in other words that only 89 pages were thus
devoted.

Now, if we compare pages in our manuscript with pages of a printed text we find that the average page in our
manuscript corresponds to about 19 lines of the Teubner edition of 1912. If we multiply 89 by 19 we get
1691. This number of lines of the size of the Teubner edition should, if our calculation be correct, contain the
text of the Letters preceding our fragment. The average page of the Teubner edition of 1912 of the part which
interests us contains a little over 29 lines. If we divide 1691 by 29 we get 58.3. Just 58 pages of Teubner text
are occupied by the 47 leaves which preceded our fragment. So close a conformity is sufficient to prove our
point. We have possibly allowed too much space for indices and colophons, especially if the former covered
less ground for 6 Books I and II than for Book III. Further, owing to the abbreviation of que and bus, and
particularly of official titles, we can not expect a closer agreement.

It is not worth while to attempt a more elaborate calculation. With the edges matching so nearly, it is obvious
that the original manuscript as known and used in the fifteenth century could not have contained some other
work, however brief, before Book I of PlinyâΠ–s Letters. If the manuscript contained the entire ten books it
consisted of about 260 leaves. This sum is obtained by counting the number of lines in the Teubner edition of
1912, dividing this sum by 19, and adding thereto pages for colophons and indices. It would be too bold to
suppose that this calculation necessarily gives us the original size of the manuscript, since the manuscript may
have had less than ten books, or it may, on the other hand, have had other works. But if it contained only the
ten books of the Letters, then 260 folios is an approximately correct estimate of its size.

It is hard to believe that only six leaves of the original manuscript have escaped destruction. The fact that the
outside sheet (foll. 48r and 53v) is not much worn nor badly soiled suggests that the gathering of six leaves
must have been torn from the manuscript not so very long ago and that the remaining portions may some day
be found.

Disposition The pages in our manuscript are written in long lines,4 in scriptura continua, with hardly any
punctuation.

Each page begins with a large letter, even though that letter occur in the body of a word (cf. foll. 48r, 51v,
52r).5

Each epistle begins with a large letter. The line containing the address which precedes each epistle also begins
with a large letter. In both cases the large letter projects into the left margin.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FRAGMENT. 6


Pliny Letters, Fragment

The running title at the top of each page is in small rustic capitals.6 On the verso of each folio stands the word
EPISTVLARVM; on the recto of the following folio stands the number of the book, e.g., LIB. II, LIB. III.

To judge by our fragment, each book was preceded by an index of addresses 7 and initial lines written in
alternating lines of black and red uncials. Alternating lines of black and red rustic capitals of a large size were
used in the colophon.7

Ornamentation As in all our oldest Latin manuscripts, the ornamentation is of the simplest kind. Such as it
is, it is mostly found at the end and beginning of books. In our case, the colophon is enclosed between two
scrolls of vine-tendrils terminating in an ivy-leaf at both ends. The lettering in the colophon and in the running
title is set off by means of ticking above and below the line.

Red is used for decorative purposes in the middle line of the colophon, in the scroll of vine-tendrils, in the
ticking, and in the border at the end of the Index on fol. 49. Red was also used, to judge by our fragment, in
the first three lines of a new book,8 in the addresses in the Index, and in the addresses preceding each letter.

Corrections The original scribe made a number of corrections. The omitted line of the Index on fol. 49 was
added between the lines, probably by the scribe himself, using a finer pen; likewise the omitted line on fol.
52v, lines 7-8. A number of slight corrections come either from the scribe or from a contemporary reader; the
others are by a somewhat later hand, which is probably not more recent than the seventh century.9 The
method of correcting varies. As a rule, the correct letter is added above the line over the wrong letter;
occasionally it is written over an erasure. An omitted letter is also added above the line over the space where it
should be inserted. Deletion of single letters is indicated by a dot placed over the letter and a horizontal or an
oblique line drawn through it. This double use of expunction and cancellation is not uncommon in our oldest
manuscripts. For details on the subject of corrections, see the notes on pp. 23-34.

There is a ninth-century addition on fol. 53 and one of the fifteenth century on fol. 51. On fol. 49, in the upper
margin, a fifteenth-century hand using a stilus or hard point scribbled a few words, now difficult to
decipher.10 Presumably the same hand drew a bearded head with a halo. Another relatively recent hand, using
lead, wrote in the left margin of fol. 53v the monogram QR11 and the roman numerals i, ii, iii under one
another. These numerals, as Professor 8 Rand correctly saw, refer to the works of Pliny the Elder enumerated
in the text. Further activity by this hand, the date of which it is impossible to determine, may be seen, for
example, on fol. 49v, ll. 8, 10, 15; fol. 52, ll. 4, 10, 13, 21, 22; fol. 53, ll. 12, 15, 16, 17, 20, 27; fol. 53v, ll. 5,
10, 15.

Syllabification Syllables are divided after a vowel or diphthong except where such a division involves
beginning the next syllable with a group of consonants.12 In that case the consonants are distributed between
the two syllables, one consonant going with one syllable and the other with the following, except when the
group contains more than two successive consonants, in which case the first consonant goes with the first
syllable, the rest with the following syllable. That the scribe is controlled by this mechanical rule and not by
considerations of pronunciation is obvious from the division san|ctissimum and other examples found below.
The method followed by him is made amply clear by the examples which occur in our twelve pages:13

fo. 48r, line 1, con–suleret


2, sescen–ties
3, ex–ta
7, fal–si
fo. 49v, line 3, spu–rinnam
5, senesce–re

DESCRIPTION OF THE FRAGMENT. 7


Pliny Letters, Fragment

7, distin–ctius
12, se–nibus
13, con–ueniunt
15, spurin–na
18, circum–agit
20, mi–lia
24, prae–sentibus
25, grauan–tur
fo. 50r, line 1, singu–laris
4, an–tiquitatis
5, au–dias
9, ite–rum
11, scri–bit
12, ly–rica
15, scri–bentis
17, octa–ua
19, uehe–menter
20, exer–citationis
21, se–nectute
22, paulis–per
23, le–gentem
fo. 50v, line 2, de–lectatur
3, co–moedis
4, uolupta–tes
5, ali–quid
6, lon–gum
11, senec–tut
12, uo–to
13, ingres–surus
14, ae–tatis
15, in–terim
16, ho–rum
20, re–xit
21, me–ruit
9 22, eun–dem
25, epis–tulam
fo. 51r, line 2, mi–hi
4, afria–nus
6, facultati–bus
7, super–sunt
8, gra–uitate
9, consi–lio

DESCRIPTION OF THE FRAGMENT. 8


Pliny Letters, Fragment

10, ut–or
13, ar–dentius
23, con–feras
24, habe–bis
27, concu–piscat
fo. 51v, line 3, san–ctissimum
5, memo–riam
10, pater–nus
11, contige–rit
12, lau–de
14, hones–tis
15, refe–rat
17, contuber–nium
21, circumspi–ciendus
22, scho–lae
24, nos–tro
27, praecep–tor
fo. 52r, line 2, demon–strare
5, iudi–cio
6, gra–uis
8, quan–tum
9, cre–dere
12, mag–nasque
13, ge–nitore
16, nes[cis]–se
19, nomi–na
20, fauen–tibus
23, dis–citur
fo. 52v, line 1, uidean–tur
3, con–silium
5, concu–pisco
6, pecu–nia
7, excucuris–sem
10, se–natu
12, ne–cessitatibus
19, postulaue–runt
21, bae–bium
23, clari–sima
25, in–quam
26, excusa–tionis
fo. 53r, line 1, com (or con)–pulit
5, ueni–ebat

DESCRIPTION OF THE FRAGMENT. 9


Pliny Letters, Fragment

7, iniu–rias
8, ex–secutos
10, prae–terea
12, aduoca–tione
13, con–seruandum
15, com–paratum
16, sub–uertas
17, cumu–les
18, obliga–ti
23, tris–tissimum
fo. 53v, line 2, facili–orem
3, si–quis
5, offi–ciorum
7, praepara–tur
8, super–est
10, sim–plicitas
11, compro–bantis
14, diligen–ter
20, cog–nitio
22, milita–ret
26, exsol–uit
Orthography The spelling found in our six leaves is remarkably correct. It compares favorably with the best
spelling encountered in our oldest Latin manuscripts of the fourth and fifth centuries. The diphthong ae is
regularly distinguished from e. The interchange of b and u, d and t, o and u, so common in later manuscripts,
is rare here: the confusion between b and u occurs once (comprouasse, fo. 52v, l. 1); the omission of h occurs
once (pulcritudo, fo. 51v, l. 26); the use of k for c occurs twice (karet, fo. 51r, l. 14, and karitas, fo. 52r, l. 5).
The scribe uses the correct forms in adolescet (fo. 51v, l. 14) and adulescenti (fo. 51v, l. 24); he writes
auonculi (fo. 53v, l. 15), exsistat (fo. 51v, l. 9), and exsecutos (fo. 53r, l. 8). In the case of composite words he
has the assimilated form in some, and in others the unassimilated form, as the following examples go to show:

10

fo. 48r, line 3, inpleturus fo. 48r, line 7, improbissimum


49r, 13a, adnotasse 48v, 23, composuisse
19, adsumo 50r, 1, ascendit
50r, 1, adsumit 6, imbuare
27, adponitur 22, accubat
50v, 3, adficitur 51r, 2, optulissem
51r, 19, adstruere 3, suppeteret
21, adstruere 16, ascendere
26, adpetat 51v, 16, accipiat
51v, 9, exsistat 52v, 1, comprouasse
12, inlustri 11, collegae
14, inbutus 17, impetrassent

DESCRIPTION OF THE FRAGMENT. 10


Pliny Letters, Fragment

52r, 18, admonebitur 53r, 8, accusationibus


52v, 20, inplorantes 15, comparatum
22, adlegantes 53v, 1, computabam
24, adsensio 5, accusare
27, adtulisse 11, comprobantis
53r, 8, exsecutos 23, composuit
Abbreviations Very few abbreviated words occur in our twelve pages. Those that are found are subject to
strict rules. What is true of the twelve pages was doubtless true of the entire manuscript, inasmuch as the
sparing use of abbreviations in conformity with certain definite rules is a characteristic of all our oldest
manuscripts.14 The abbreviations found in our fragment may conveniently be grouped as follows:

1. Suspensions which might occur in any ancient manuscript or inscription, e.g.:

B· = BUS
Q· = QUE15
·C̖· = GAIUS16
P· C· = PATRES CONSCRIPTI
2. Technical or recurrent terms which occur in the colophons at the end of each book and at the end of letters,
as:

·EXP· = EXPLICIT
·INC· = INCIPIT
LIB· = LIBER
VAL· = VALE17
11 3. Purely arbitrary suspensions which occur only in the index of addresses preceding each book,
suspensions which would never occur in the body of the text, as: sueton tranque,18 uestric spurinn·

4. Omitted M at the end of a line, omitted N at the end of a line, the omission being indicated by means of a
horizontal stroke, thickened at either end, which is placed over the space immediately following the final
vowel.19 This omission may occur in the middle of a word but only at the end of a line.

Authenticity of the six leaves The sudden appearance in America of a portion of a very ancient classical
manuscript unknown to modern editors may easily arouse suspicion in the minds of some scholars. Our
experience with the âΠ–Anonymus CortesianusâΠ– has taught us to be wary,20 and it is natural to demand proof
establishing the genuineness of the new fragment.21 As to the six leaves of the Morgan Pliny, it may be said
unhesitatingly that no one with experience of ancient Latin manuscripts could entertain any doubt as to their
genuineness. The look and feel of the parchment, the ink, the script, the titles, colophons, ornamentation,
corrections, and later additions, all bear the indisputable marks of genuine antiquity.

But it may be objected that a clever forger possessing a knowledge of palaeography would be able to
reproduce all these features of ancient manuscripts. This objection can hardly be sustained. It is difficult to
believe that any modern could reproduce faithfully all the characteristics of sixth-century uncials and
fifteenth-century notarial writing without unconsciously falling into some error and betraying his modernity.
Besides, there is one consideration which to my mind establishes the genuineness of our fragment beyond a
peradventure. We have seen above that the leaves of our manuscript are so arranged that hair side faces hair
side and flesh side faces flesh side. The visible effect of this arrangement is that two pages of clear writing
alternate with two pages of faded writing, the faded appearance being caused by the ink scaling off from the
less porous surface of the flesh side of the vellum.22 As a matter of fact, the flesh side of the vellum showed

DESCRIPTION OF THE FRAGMENT. 11


Pliny Letters, Fragment

12 faded writing long before modern time. To judge by the retouched characters on fol. 53r it would seem
that the original writing had become illegible by the eighth or ninth century.23 Still, a considerable period of
time would, so far as we know, be necessary for this process. It is highly improbable that a forger could devise
this method of giving his forgery the appearance of antiquity, and even if he attempted it, it is safe to say that
the present effect would not be produced in the time that elapsed before the book was sold to Mr. Morgan.

But let us assume, for the sake of argument, that the Morgan fragment is a modern forgery. We are then
constrained to credit the forger not only with a knowledge of palaeography which is simply faultless, but, as
will be shown in the second part, with a minute acquaintance with the criticism and the history of the text.
And this forger did not try to attain fame or academic standing by his nefarious doings, as was the case with
the Roman author of the forged âΠ–Anonymus Cortesianus,âΠ– for nothing was heard of this Morgan fragment
till it had reached the library of the American collector. If his motive was monetary gain he chose a long and
arduous path to attain it. It is hardly conceivable that he should take the trouble to make all the errors and
omissions found in our twelve pages and all the additions and corrections representing different ages, different
styles, when less than half the number would have served to give the forged document an air of verisimilitude.
The assumption that the Morgan fragment is a forgery thus becomes highly unreasonable. When you add to
this the fact that there is nothing in the twelve pages that in any way arouses suspicion, the conclusion is
inevitable that the Morgan fragment is a genuine relic of antiquity.

Archetype As to the original from which our manuscript was copied, very little can be said. The six leaves
before us furnish scanty material on which to build any theory. The errors which occur are not sufficient to
warrant any conclusion as to the script of the archetype. One item of information, however, we do get: an
omission on fol. 52v goes to show that the manuscript from which our scribe copied was written in lines of 25
letters or thereabout.24 The scribe first wrote excucuris|sem commeatu. Discovering his error of omission, he
erased sem at the beginning of line 8 and added it at the end of line 7 (intruding upon margin-space in order to
do so), and then supplied, in somewhat smaller letters, the omitted words accepto ut praefectus aerari. As
there are no homoioteleuta to 13 account for the omission, it is almost certain that it was caused by the
inadvertent skipping of a line.25 The omitted letters number 25.

A glance at the abbreviations used in the index of addresses on foll. 48v-49r teaches that the original from
which our manuscript was copied must have had its names abbreviated in exactly the same form. There is no
other way of explaining why the scribe first wrote ad iulium seruianum (fol. 49, l. 12), and then erased the
final um and put a point after seruian.

THE DATE AND LATER HISTORY OF THE MANUSCRIPT.

Our manuscript was written in Italy at the end of the fifth or more probably at the beginning of the sixth
century.

The manuscripts with which we can compare it come, with scarcely an exception, from Italy; for it is only of
more recent uncial manuscripts (those of the seventh and eighth centuries) that we can say with certainty that
they originate in other than Italian centres. The only exception which occurs to one is the Codex Bobiensis (k)
of the Gospels of the fifth century, which may actually have been written in Africa, though this is far from
certain. As for our fragment, the details of its script, as well as the ornamentation, disposition of the page, the
ink, the parchment, all find their parallels in authenticated Italian products; and this similarity in details is
borne out by the general impression of the whole.

The manuscript may be dated at about the year A.D. 500, for the reason that the script is not quite so old as
that of our oldest fifth-century uncial manuscripts, and yet decidedly older than that of the Codex Fuldensis of
the Gospels (F) written in or before A.D. 546.

THE DATE AND LATER HISTORY OF THE MANUSCRIPT. 12


Pliny Letters, Fragment

On the dating of uncial manuscripts In dating uncial manuscripts we must proceed warily, since the
data on which our judgments are based are meagre in the extreme and rather difficult to formulate.

The history of uncial writing still remains to be written. The chief value of excellent works like ChatelainâΠ–s
Uncialis Scriptura or Zangemeister and WattenbachâΠ–s Exempla Codicum Latinorum Litteris Maiusculis
Scriptorum lies in the mass of material they offer to the student. This could not well be otherwise, since
clear-cut, objective criteria for dating uncial manuscripts have not yet been formulated; and that is due to the
fact that of our four hundred or more uncial manuscripts, ranging from the fourth to the eighth century, very
few, indeed, can be dated with 14 precision, and of these virtually none is in the oldest class. Yet a few
guide-posts there are. By means of those it ought to be possible not only to throw light on the development of
this script, but also to determine the features peculiar to the different periods of its history. This task, of
course, can not be attempted here; it may, however, not be out of place to call attention to certain salient facts.

The student of manuscripts knows that a law of evolution is observable in writing as in other aspects of human
endeavor. The process of evolution is from the less to the more complex, from the less to the more
differentiated, from the simple to the more ornate form. Guided by these general considerations, he would find
that his uncial manuscripts naturally fall into two groups. One group is manifestly the older: in orthography,
punctuation, and abbreviation it bears close resemblance to inscriptions of the classical or Roman period. The
other group is as manifestly composed of the more recent manuscripts: this may be inferred from the corrupt
or barbarous spelling, from the use of abbreviations unfamiliar in the classical period but very common in the
Middle Ages, or from the presence of punctuation, which the oldest manuscripts invariably lack. The
manuscripts of the first group show letters that are simple and unadorned and words unseparated from each
other. Those of the second group show a type of ornate writing, the letters having serifs or hair-lines and
flourishes, and the words being well separated. There can be no reasonable doubt that this rough classification
is correct as far as it goes; but it must remain rough and permit large play for subjective judgement.

A scientific classification, however, can rest only on objective criteria—criteria which, once
recognized, are acceptable to all. Such criteria are made possible by the presence of dated manuscripts. Now,
if by a dated manuscript we mean a manuscript of which we know, through a subscription or some other
entry, that it was written in a certain year, there is not a single dated manuscript in uncial writing which is
older than the seventh century—the oldest manuscript with a precise date known to me being the
manuscript of St. Augustine written in the Abbey of Luxeuil in A.D. 669.26 But there are a few manuscripts
of which we can say with certainty that they were written either before or after some given date. And these
manuscripts which furnish us with a terminus ante quem or post quem, as the case may be, are extremely
important to us as being the only relatively safe landmarks for following development in a field that is both
remote and shadowy.

The Codex Fuldensis of the Gospels, mentioned above, is our first landmark of importance.27 It was read by
Bishop Victor of Capua in the years A.D. 546 and 547, as is testified by two entries, probably autograph.
From this it follows that 15 the manuscript was written before A.D. 546. We may surmise—and I think
correctly—that it was shortly before 546, if not in that very year. In any case the Codex Fuldensis
furnishes a precise terminus ante quem.

The other landmark of importance is furnished by a Berlin fragment containing a computation for finding the
correct date for Easter Sunday.28 Internal evidence makes it clear that this Computus Paschalis first saw light
shortly after A.D. 447. The presumption is that the Berlin leaves represent a very early copy, if not the
original, of this composition. In no case can these leaves be regarded as a much later copy of the original, as
the following purely palaeographical considerations, that is, considerations of style and form of letters, will go
to show.

THE DATE AND LATER HISTORY OF THE MANUSCRIPT. 13


Pliny Letters, Fragment

Let us assume, as we do in geometry, for the sake of argument, that the Fulda manuscript and the Berlin
fragment were both written about the year 500—a date representing, roughly speaking, the middle point
in the period of about one hundred years which separates the extreme limits of the dates possible for either of
these two manuscripts, as the following diagram illustrates:

If our hypothesis be correct, then the script of these two manuscripts, as well as other palaeographical
features, would offer striking similarities if not close resemblance. As a matter of fact, a careful comparison of
the two manuscripts discloses differences so marked as to render our assumption absurd. The Berlin fragment
is obviously much older than the Fulda manuscript. It would be rash to specify the exact interval of time that
separates these two manuscripts, yet if we remember the slow development of types of writing the conclusion
seems justified that at least several generations of evolution lie between the two manuscripts. If this be
correct, we are forced to push the date of each as far back as the ascertained limit will permit, namely, the
Fulda manuscript to the year 546 and the Berlin fragment to the year 447. Thus, apparently, considerations of
form and style (purely palaeographical considerations) confirm the dates derived from examination of the
internal evidence, and the Berlin and Fulda manuscripts may, in effect, be considered two dated manuscripts,
two definite guide-posts.

If the preceding conclusion accords with fact, then we may accept the traditional date (circa A.D. 371) of the
Codex Vercellensis of the Gospels. The famous Vatican palimpsest of CiceroâΠ–s De Re Publica seems more
properly placed in the fourth than in the fifth century; and the older portion of the Bodleian manuscript of
JeromeâΠ–s translation of the Chronicle of Eusebius, dated after the year A.D. 442, becomes another
guide-post in the history of uncial writing, since a comparison with the Berlin fragment of about A.D. 447
convinces 16 one that the Bodleian manuscript can not have been written much after the date of its archetype,
which is A.D. 442.

Dated uncial manuscripts Asked to enumerate the landmarks which may serve as helpful guides in uncial
writing prior to the year 800, we should hardly go far wrong if we tabulate them in the following order:29

ca. a. 371 1. Codex Vercellensis of the Gospels (a).

Traube, l.c., No. 327; Zangemeister-Wattenbach, pl. XX.


post a. 442 2. Bodleian Manuscript (Auct. T. 2. 26) of JeromeâΠ–s translation of the Chronicle of Eusebius
(older portion).

Traube, l.c., No. 164; J. K. Fotheringham, The Bodleian manuscript of JeromeâΠ–s version of the Chronicle of
Eusebius reproduced in collotype, Oxford 1905, pp. 25-6; Steffens2, pl. 17; also Schwartz in Berliner Philologische
Wochenschrift, XXVI (1906), c. 746.
ca. a. 447 3. Berlin Computus Paschalis (MS. lat. 4º. 298).

Traube, l.c., No. 13; Th. Mommsen, âΠ–Zeitzer Ostertafel vom Jahre 447âΠ– in Abhandl. der Berliner Akad. aus dem
Jahre 1862, Berlin 1863, pp. 539 sqq.; âΠ–Liber Paschalis Codicis Cicensis A. CCCCXLVIIâΠ– in Monumenta
Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, IX, 1, pp. 502 sqq.; Zangemeister-Wattenbach, pl. XXIII.
ante a. 546 4. Codex Fuldensis of the Gospels (F), Fulda MS. Bonifat. 1, read by Bishop Victor of Capua.

Traube, l.c., No. 47; E. Ranke, Codex Fuldensis, Novum Testamentum Latine interprete Hieronymo ex
manuscripto Victoris Capuani, Marburg and Leipsic 1868; Zangemeister-Wattenbach, pl. XXXIV; Steffens2, pl. 21a.
a. 438-ca. 550 5. Codex Theodosianus (Turin, MS. A. II. 2).

THE DATE AND LATER HISTORY OF THE MANUSCRIPT. 14


Pliny Letters, Fragment

Manuscripts containing the Theodosian Code can not be earlier than A.D. 438, when this body of law was
promulgated, nor much later than the middle of sixth century, when the Justinian Code supplanted the
Theodosian and made it useless to copy it.

Traube, l.c., No. 311; idem, âΠ–Enarratio tabularumâΠ– in Theodosiani libri XVI edited by Th. Mommsen and P. M.
Meyer, Berlin 1905; Zangemeister-Wattenbach, pls. XXV-XXVIII; C. Cipolla, Codici Bobbiesi, pls. VII, VIII. See also
Oxyrh. Papyri XV (1922), No. 1813, pl. 1.
a. 600-666 6. The Toulouse Manuscript (No. 364) and Paris MS. lat. 8901, containing Canons, written at Albi.

Traube, l.c., No. 304; F. Schulte, âΠ–Iter GallicumâΠ– in Sitzungsberichte der K. Akad. der Wiss. Phil.-hist. Kl. LIX
(1868), p. 422, facs. 5; C. H. Turner, âΠ–Chapters in the history of Latin manuscripts: II. A group of manuscripts of Canons
at Toulouse, Albi and ParisâΠ– in Journal of Theological Studies, II (1901), pp. 266 sqq.; and TraubeâΠ–s descriptions in
A. E. Burn, Facsimiles of the Creeds from Early Manuscripts (= vol. XXXVI of the publications of the Henry
Bradshaw Society).
a. 669 7. The Morgan Manuscript of St. AugustineâΠ–s Homilies, written in the Abbey of Luxeuil. Later at
Beauvais and Chateau de Troussures.

Traube, l.c., No 307; L. Delisle, âΠ–Notice sur un manuscrit de lâΠ–abbaye de Luxeuil copié en 625âΠ– in Notices et
Extraits des manuscrits de la bibliothèque nationale, XXXI. 2 (1886), pp. 149 sqq.; J. Havet, âΠ–Questions
mérovingiennes: III. La date dâΠ–un manuscrit de LuxeuilâΠ– in Bibliothèque de lâΠ–Ã©cole des chartes, XLVI
(1885), pp. 429 sqq.
a. 699 8. The Berne Manuscript (No. 219B) of JeromeâΠ–s translation of the Chronicle of Eusebius, written in
France, possibly at Fleury.

Traube, l.c., No. 16; Zangemeister-Wattenbach, pl. LIX; J. R. Sinner, Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum
bibliothecae Bernensis (Berne 1760), pp. 64-7; A. Schone, Eusebii chronicorum libri duo, vol. II (Berlin 1866), p.
XXVII; J. K. Fotheringham, The Bodleian manuscript of JeromeâΠ–s version of the Chronicle of Eusebius (Oxford
1905), p. 4.
17

a. 695-711 9. Brussels Fragment of a Psalter and Varia Patristica (MS. 1221 = 9850-52) written for St.
Medardus in Soissons in the time of Childebert III.

Traube, l.c., No. 27; L. Delisle, âΠ–Notice sur un manuscrit mérovingien de Saint-Médard de SoissonsâΠ– in Revue
archéologique, Nouv. sér. XLI (1881), pp. 257 sqq. and pl. IX; idem, âΠ–Notice sur un manuscrit mérovingien de
la Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique Nr. 9850-52âΠ– in Notices et extraits des manuscrits, etc., XXXI. 1 (1884), pp.
33-47, pls. 1, 2, 4; J. Van den Ghejn, Catalogue des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, II (1902),
pp. 224-6.
ante a. 716 10. Codex Amiatinus of the Bible (Florence Laur. Am. 1) written in England.

Traube, l.c., No. 44: Zangemeister-Wattenbach, pl. XXXV; Steffens2, pl. 21b; E. H. Zimmermann, Vorkarolingische
Miniaturen (Berlin 1916), pl. 222; but particularly G. B. de Rossi, La biblia offerta da Ceolfrido abbate al sepolcro
di S. Pietro, codice antichissimo tra i superstiti delle biblioteche della sede apostolica—Al Sommo
Pontefice Leone XIII, omaggio giubilare della biblioteca Vaticana, Rome 1888, No. v.
a. 719 11. The Treves Prosper (MS. 36, olim S. Matthaei).

Traube, l.c., No. 306; Zangemeister-Wattenbach, pl. XLIX; M. Keuffer, Beschreibendes Verzeichnis der
Handschriften der Stadtbibliothek zu Trier, I (1888), pp. 38 sqq.
ca. a. 750 12. The Milan Manuscript (Ambros. B. 159 sup.) of GregoryâΠ–s Moralia, written at Bobbio in the
abbacy of Anastasius.

THE DATE AND LATER HISTORY OF THE MANUSCRIPT. 15


Pliny Letters, Fragment

Traube, l.c., No. 102; Palaeographical Society, pl. 121; E. H. Zimmermann, Vorkarolingische Miniaturen (Berlin
1916), pl. 14-16, Text, pp. 10, 41, 152; A. Reifferscheid, Bibliotheca patrum latinorum italica, II, 38 sq.
ante a. 752 13. The Bodleian Acts of the Apostles (MS. Selden supra 30) written in the Isle of Thanet.

Traube, l.c., No. 165; SmithâΠ–s Dictionary of the Bible, IV (New York 1876) 3458 b; S. Berger, Histoire de la
Vulgate (Paris 1893), p. 44; Wordsworth and White, Novum Testamentum, II (1905), p. vii.
a. 754 14. The Autun Manuscript (No. 3) of the Gospels, written at Vosevium.

Traube, l.c., No. 3; Zangemeister-Wattenbach, pl. LXI; Steffens2, pl. 37.


a. 739-760 15. Codex Beneventanus of the Gospels (London Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 5463) written at Benevento.

Traube, l.c., No. 88; Palaeographical Society, pl. 236; Catalogue of the Ancient Manuscripts in the British
Museum, II, pl. 7.
post a. 787 16. The Lucca Manuscript (No. 490) of the Liber Pontificalis.

Traube, l.c., No. 92; J. D. Mansi, âΠ–De insigni codice Caroli Magni aetate scriptoâΠ– in Raccolta di opuscoli scientifici
e filologici, T. XLV (Venice 1751), ed. A. Calogiera, pp. 78-80; Th. Mommsen, Gesta pontificum romanorum, I
(1899) in Monumenta Germaniae Historica; Steffens2, pl. 48.
Guided by the above manuscripts, we may proceed to determine the place which the Morgan Pliny occupies in
the series of uncial manuscripts. The student of manuscripts recognizes at a glance that the Morgan fragment
is, as has been said, distinctly older than the Codex Fuldensis of about the year 546. But how much older? Is it
to be compared in antiquity with such venerable monuments as the palimpsest of CiceroâΠ–s De Re Publica,
with products like the Berlin Computus Paschalis or the Bodleian Chronicle of Eusebius? If we examine
carefully the characteristics of our oldest group of fourth- and fifth-century manuscripts and compare them
with those of the Morgan manuscript we shall see that the latter, though sharing some of the features found in
manuscripts of the oldest group, lacks others and in turn shows features peculiar to manuscripts of a later
group.

Oldest group of uncial manuscripts Our oldest group would naturally be composed of those uncial
manuscripts which bear the closest resemblance to the above-mentioned manuscripts of the fourth and fifth
centuries, and I should include in that group such manuscripts as these:

18

A. Of Classical Authors.

1. Rome, Vatic. lat. 5757.—Cicero, De Re Publica, palimpsest.

Traube, l.c., No. 269-70; Zangemeister-Wattenbach, pl. XVII; E. Chatelain, Paléographie des classiques latins, pl.
XXXIX, 2; Palaeographical Society, pl. 160; Steffens2, pl. 15. For a complete facsimile edition of the manuscript see
Codices e Vaticanis selecti phototypice expressi, Vol. II, Milan 1907; Ehrle-Liebaert, Specimina codicum
latinorum Vaticanorum (Bonn 1912), pl. 4.
2. Rome, Vatic. lat. 5750 + Milan, Ambros. E. 147 sup.—Scholia Bobiensia in Ciceronem, palimpsest.

Traube, l.c., No. 265-68; Zangemeister-Wattenbach, pl. XXXI; Palaeographical Society, pl. 112; complete facsimile
edition in Codices e Vaticanis selecti, etc., Vol. VII, Milan 1906; Ehrle-Liebaert, Specimina codicum latinorum
Vaticanorum, pl. 5a.
3. Vienna, 15.—Livy, fifth decade (five books).

Traube, l.c., No. 359; Zangemeister-Wattenbach, pl. XVIII; E. Chatelain, Paléographie des classiques latins, pl.
CXX; complete facsimile edition in Codices graeci et latini photographice depicti, Tom. IX, Leyden 1907.
4. Paris, lat. 5730.—Livy, third decade.

A. Of Classical Authors. 16
Pliny Letters, Fragment

Traube, l.c., No. 183; Zangemeister-Wattenbach, pl. XIX; Paleographical Society, pls. 31 and 32; E. Chatelain,
Paléographie des classiques latins, pl. CXVI; Réproductions des manuscrits et miniatures de la
Bibliothèque Nationale, ed. H. Omont, Vol. I, Paris 1907.
5. Verona, XL (38).—Livy, first decade, 6 palimpsest leaves.

Traube, l.c., No. 349-50. Th. Mommsen, Analecta Liviana, Leipsic 1873; E. Chatelain, Paléographie des
classiques latins, pl. CVI.
6. Rome, Vatic. lat. 10696.—Livy, fourth decade, Lateran fragments.

Traube, l.c., No. 277; M. Vattasso, âΠ–Frammenti dâΠ–un Livio del V. secolo recentemente scoperti, Codice Vaticano Latino
10696âΠ– in Studi e Testi, Vol. XVIII, Rome 1906; Ehrle-Liebaert, Specimina codicum latinorum Vaticanorum, pl.
5b.
7. Bamberg, Class. 35a.—Livy, fourth decade, fragments.

Traube, l.c., No. 7; idem, âΠ–Palaeographische Forschungen IV, Bamberger Fragmente der vierten Dekade des LiviusâΠ– in
Abhandlungen der Königlich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, III Klasse, XXIV Band, I Abteilung,
Munich 1904.
8. Vienna, lat. 1a.—Pliny, Historia Naturalis, fragments.

Traube, l.c., No. 357; E. Chatelain, Paléographie des classiques latins, pl. CXXXVII, 1.
9. St. Paul in Carinthia, XXV a 3.—Pliny, Historia Naturalis, palimpsest.

Traube, l.c., No. 231; E. Chatelain, ibid. pl. CXXXVI. Chatelain cites the manuscript under the press-mark XXV 2/67.
10. Turin, A. II. 2.—Theodosian Codex, fragments, palimpsest.

Traube, l.c., No. 311; Zangemeister-Wattenbach, pl. XXV; Cipolla, Codici Bobbiesi, pl. VII.
B. Of Christian Authors.

1. Vercelli, Cathedral Library.—Gospels (a) ascribed to Bishop Eusebius (âΠ 371).

Traube, l.c., No. 327; Zangemeister-Wattenbach, pl. XX.


2. Paris, lat. 17225.—Corbie Gospels (ff2).

Traube, l.c., No. 214; Palaeographical Society, pl. 87; E. Chatelain, Uncialis scriptura, pl. II; Reusens, Öléments
de paléographie, pl. III, Louvain 1899.
3. Constance-Weingarten Biblical fragments.—Prophets, fragments scattered in the libraries of
Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Fulda, and St. Paul in Carinthia.

Traube, l.c., No. 302; Zangemeister-Wattenbach, pl. XXI; complete facsimile reproduction of the fragments in Codices
graeci et latini photographice depicti, Supplementum IX, Leyden 1912, with introduction by P. Lehmann.
4. Berlin, lat. 4º. 298.—Computus Paschalis of ca. a. 447.

Traube, l.c., No. 13; see above, p. 16, no. 3.


5. Turin, G. VII. 15.—Bobbio Gospels (k).

Traube, l.c., No. 324; Old Latin Biblical Texts, vol. II, Oxford 1886; F. Carta, C. Cipolla, C. Frati, Monumenta
Palaeographica sacra, pl. V, 2; R. Beer, âΠ–Ã–ber den Öltesten Handschriftenbestand des Klosters BobbioâΠ– in
Anzeiger der Kais. Akad. der Wiss. in Wien, 1911, No. XI, pp. 91 sqq.; C. Cipolla, Codici Bobbiesi, pls. XIV-XV;
complete facsimile reproduction of the manuscript, with preface by C. Cipolla: Il codice Evangelico k della Biblioteca
Universitaria Nazionale di Torino, Turin 1913.
6. Turin, F. IV. 27 + Milan, D. 519. inf. + Rome, Vatic. lat. 10959.—Cyprian, Epistolae, fragments.

B. Of Christian Authors. 17
Pliny Letters, Fragment

Traube, l.c., No. 320; E. Chatelain, Uncialis scriptura, pl. IV, 2; C. Cipolla, Codici Bobbiesi, pl. XIII; Ehrle-Liebaert,
Specimina codicum latinorum Vaticanorum, pl. 5d.
7. Turin, G. V. 37.—Cyprian, de opere et eleemosynis.

Traube, l.c., No. 323; Carta, Cipolla e Frati, Monumenta palaeographica sacra, pl. V, 1; Cipolla, Codici Bobbiesi,
pl. XII.
19

8. Oxford, Bodleian Auct. T. 2. 26.—Eusebius-Hieronymus, Chronicle, post a. 442.

Traube, l.c., No. 164; see above, p. 16, no. 2.


9. Petrograd Q. v. I. 3 (Corbie).—Varia of St. Augustine.

Traube, l.c., No. 140; E. Chatelain, Uncialis scriptura, pl. III; A. Staerk, Les manuscrits latins du Ve au XIIIe
siècle conservés à la bibliothèque impériale de Saint Petersburg (St. Petersburg 1910), Vol. II. pl. 2.
10. St. Gall, 1394.—Gospels (n).

Traube, l.c., No. 60; Old Latin Biblical Texts, Vol. II, Oxford 1886; Palaeographical Society, II. pl. 50; Steffens1, pl.
15; E. Chatelain, Uncialis scriptura, pl. I, 1; A. Chroust, Monumenta Palaeographica, XVII, pl. 3.
Characteristics of the oldest uncial manuscripts The main characteristics of the manuscripts included
in the above list, which is by no means complete, may briefly be described thus:

1. General effect of compactness. This is the result of scriptura continua, which knows no separation of words
and no punctuation. See the facsimiles cited above.

2. Precision in the mode of shading. The alternation of stressed and unstressed strokes is very regular. The two
arcs of are shaded not in the middle, as in Greek uncials, but in the lower left and upper right parts of the
letter, so that the space enclosed by the two arcs resembles an ellipse leaning to the left at an angle of about
45°, thus . What is true of the is true of other curved strokes. The strokes are often very short, mere
touches of pen to parchment, like brush work. Often they are unconnected, thus giving a mere suggestion of
the form. The attack or fore-stroke as well as the finishing stroke is a very fine, oblique hair-line.30

3. Absence of long ascending or descending strokes. The letters lie virtually between two lines (instead of
between four as in later uncials), the upper and lower shafts of letters like projecting but slightly
beyond the head and base lines.

4. The broadness of the letters

5. The relative narrowness of the letters

6. The manner of forming

B with the lower bow considerably larger than the upper, which often has the form of a mere comma.

E with the tongue or horizontal stroke placed not in the middle, as in later uncial manuscripts, but high above
it, and extending beyond the upper curve. The loop is often left open.

L with very small base.

M with the initial stroke tending to be a straight line instead of the well-rounded bow of later uncials.

B. Of Christian Authors. 18
Pliny Letters, Fragment

N with the oblique connecting stroke shaded.

P with the loop very small and often open.

S with a rather longish form and shallow curves, as compared with the broad form and ample curves of later
uncials.

T with a very small, sinuous horizontal top stroke (except at the beginning of a line when it often has an
exaggerated extension to the left).

7. Extreme fineness of parchment, at least in parts of the manuscript.

20 8. Perforation of parchment along furrows made by the pen.

9. Quires signed by means of roman numerals often preceded by the letter Q· (= Quaternio) in the lower
right corner of the last page of each gathering.

10. Running titles, in abbreviated form, usually in smaller uncials than the text.

11. Colophons, in which red and black ink alternate, usually in large-sized uncials.

12. Use of a capital, i.e., a larger-sized letter at the beginning of each page or of each column in the page, even
if the beginning falls in the middle of a word.

13. Lack of all but the simplest ornamentation, e.g., scroll or ivy-leaf.

14. The restricted use of abbreviations. Besides B· and Q· and such suspensions as occur in classical
inscriptions only the contracted forms of the Nomina Sacra are found.

15. Omission of M and N allowed only at the end of a line, the omission being marked by means of a simple
horizontal line (somewhat hooked at each end) placed above the line after the final vowel and not directly
over it as in later uncial manuscripts.

16. Absence of nearly all punctuation.

17. The use of in the text where an omission has occurred, and after the supplied omission in the
lower margin, or the same symbols reversed if the supplement is entered in the upper margin.

If we now turn to the Morgan Pliny we observe that it lacks a number of the characteristics enumerated above
as belonging to the oldest type of uncial manuscripts. The parchment is not of the very thin sort. There has
been no corrosion along the furrows made by the pen. The running title and colophons are in rustic capitals,
not in uncials. The manner of forming such letters as differs from that employed in the
oldest group.

B with the lower bow not so markedly larger than the upper.

E with the horizontal stroke placed nearer the middle.

M with the left bow tending to become a distinct curve.

B. Of Christian Authors. 19
Pliny Letters, Fragment

R S T have gained in breadth and proportionately lost in height.

Date of the Morgan manuscript Inasmuch as these palaeographical differences mark a tendency which
reaches fuller development in later uncial manuscripts, it is clear that their presence in our manuscript is a sign
of its more recent character as compared with manuscripts of the oldest type. Just as our manuscript is clearly
older than the Codex Fuldensis of about the year 546, so it is clearly more recent than the Berlin Computus
Paschalis of about the year 447. Its proper place is at the end of the oldest series of uncial manuscripts, which
begins with the Cicero palimpsest. Its closest neighbors are, I believe, the Pliny palimpsest of St. Paul in
Carinthia and the Codex Theodosianus of Turin. If we conclude by saying that the Morgan manuscript was
written about the year 500 we shall probably not be far from the truth.

21

Later history of the Morgan manuscript The vicissitudes of a manuscript often throw light upon the
history of the text contained in the manuscript. And the palaeographer knows that any scratch or scribbling,
any probatio pennae or casual entry, may become important in tracing the wanderings of a manuscript.

In the six leaves that have been saved of our Morgan manuscript we have two entries. One is of a neutral
character and does not take us further, but the other is very clear and tells an unequivocal story.

The unimportant entry occurs in the lower margin of folio 53r. The words âΠ–uir erat in terra,âΠ– which are
apparently the beginning of the book of Job, are written in Carolingian characters of the ninth century. As
these characters were used during the ninth century in northern Italy as well as in France, it is impossible to
say where this entry was made. If in France, then the manuscript of Pliny must have left its Italian home
before the ninth century.31

That it had crossed the Alps by the beginning of the fifteenth century we know from the second entry. Nay,
we learn more precise details. We learn that our manuscript had found a home in France, in the town of
Meaux or its vicinity. The entry is found in the upper margin of fol. 51r and doubtless represents a probatio
pennae on the part of a notary. It runs thus:

âΠ–A tous ceulz qui ces presentes lettres verront et orront


Jehan de Sannemeres garde du scel de la provoste de
Meaulx & Francois Beloy clerc Jure de par le Roy
nostre sire a ce faire Salut sachient tuit que par.âΠ–

The above note is made in the regular French notarial hand of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.32 The
formula of greeting with which the document opens is in the precise form in which it occurs in numberless
charters of the period. All efforts to identify Jehan de Sannemeres, keeper of the seal of the provosté of
Meaux, and François Beloy, sworn clerk in behalf of the King, have so far proved fruitless.33

Conclusion Our manuscript, then, was written in Italy about the year 500. It is quite possible that it had
crossed the Alps by the ninth century or even before. It is certain that by the fifteenth century it had found
asylum in France. When and under what circumstances it got back to Italy will be shown by Professor Rand in
the pages that follow.

So it is France that has saved this, the oldest extant witness of PlinyâΠ–s Letters, 22 for modern times. To
mediaeval France we are, in fact, indebted for the preservation of more than one ancient classical manuscript.
The oldest manuscript of the third decade of Livy was at Corbie in CharlemagneâΠ–s time, when it was loaned
to Tours and a copy of it made there. Both copy and original have come down to us. SallustâΠ–s Histories were
saved (though not in complete form) for our generation by the Abbey of Fleury. The famous Schedae

B. Of Christian Authors. 20
Pliny Letters, Fragment

Vergilianae, in square capitals, as well as the Codex Romanus of Virgil, in rustic capitals, belonged to the
monastery of St. Denis. Lyons preserved the Codex Theodosianus. It was again some French centre that
rescued Pomponius Mela from destruction. The oldest fragments of OvidâΠ–s Pontica, the oldest fragments of
the first decade of Livy, the oldest manuscript of PlinyâΠ–s Natural History—all
palimpsests—were in some French centre in the Middle Ages, as may be seen from the indisputably
eighth-century French writing which covers the ancient texts. The student of Latin literature knows that the
manuscript tradition of Lucretius, Suetonius, Cæsar, Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius—to mention
only the greatest names—shows that we are indebted primarily to Gallia Christiana for the preservation
of these authors.

Notes to Part I

4 1. For example, in the fifth-century manuscript of Livy in Paris (MS. lat. 5730) the forty-third and forty-fifth
quires are composed of six leaves, while the rest are all quires of eight.
2. In an examination of all the uncial manuscripts in the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris, it was found that out of
twenty manuscripts that may be ascribed to the fifth and sixth centuries only two had the hair side on the outside of
the quires. Out of thirty written approximately between A.D. 600 and 800, about half showed the same practice, the
other half having the hair side outside. Thus the practice of our oldest Latin scribes agrees with that of the Greek:
see C. R. Gregory, âΠ–Les cahiers des manuscrits grecsâΠ– in Comptes Rendus de lâΠ–Academie des Inscriptions et
Belles-Lettres (1885), p. 261. I am informed by Professor Hyvernat, of the Catholic University of Washington, that
the same custom is observed by Coptic scribes.
5 3. The confused arrangement of the indices for Books I and II in the Codex Bellovacensis may well have been
found in the manuscript of which the Morgan fragment is a part. The space required for the indices, however, would
not have greatly differed from that taken by the index of Book III in both the Morgan fragment and the Codex
Bellovacensis.
6 4. Many of our oldest Latin manuscripts have two and even three columns on a page, a practice evidently taken
over from the roll. But very ancient manuscripts are not wanting which are written in long lines, e.g., the Codex
Vindobonensis of Livy, the Codex Bobiensis of the Gospels, or the manuscript of PlinyâΠ–s Natural History
preserved at St. Paul in Carinthia.
5. This is an ear-mark of great antiquity. It is found, for example, in the Berlin and Vatican Schedae Vergilianae in
square capitals (Berlin lat. 2 o 416 and Rome Vatic. lat. 3256 reproduced in Zangemeister and WattenbachâΠ–s
Exempla Codicum Latinorum, etc., pl. 14, and in Steffens, Lateinische Paläographie 2, pl. 12b), in the Vienna,
Paris, and Lateran manuscripts of Livy, in the Codex Corbeiensis of the Gospels, and here and there in the
palimpsest manuscript of CiceroâΠ–s De Re Publica and in other manuscripts.
6. In many of our oldest manuscripts uncials are employed. The Pliny palimpsest of St. Paul in Carinthia agrees
with our manuscript in using rustic capitals. For facsimiles see J. Sillig, C. Plini Secundi Naturalis Historiae,
Libri XXXVI, Vol. VI, Gotha 1855, and Chatelain, Paléographie des Classiques Latins, pl. CXXXVI.
7 7. In this respect, too, the Pliny palimpsest of St. Paul in Carinthia agrees with our fragment. Most of the oldest
manuscripts, however, have the colophon in the same type of writing as the text.
8. This is also the case in the Paris manuscript of Livy of the fifth century, in the Codex Bezae of the Gospels
(published in facsimile by the University of Cambridge in 1899), in the Pliny palimpsest of St. Paul in Carinthia,
and in many other manuscripts of the oldest type.
9. The strokes over the two consecutive iâΠ–s on fol. 53 v, l. 23, were made by a hand that can hardly be older than
the thirteenth century.
10. I venture to read dominus meus ... in te deus.
11. This doubtless stands for Quaere (= âΠ–investigateâΠ–), a frequent marginal note in manuscripts of all ages. A
number of instances of Q for quaere are given by A. C. Clark, The Descent of Manuscripts, Oxford 1918, p. 35.
8 12. Such a division as ut|or on fol. 7, l. 10, is due entirely to thoughtless copying. The scribe probably took ut for
a word.
13. For further details on syllabification in our oldest Latin manuscripts, see Th. Mommsen, âΠ–Livii Codex
Veronensis,âΠ– in Abhandlungen der k. Akad. d. Wiss. zu Berlin, phil. hist. Cl. (1868), p. 163, n. 2, and pp. 165-6;

Notes to Part I 21
Pliny Letters, Fragment

Mommsen-Studemund, Analecta Liviana (Leipsic 1873), p. 3; Brandt, âΠ–Der St. Galler Palimpsest,âΠ– in
Sitzungsberichte der phil. hist. Cl. der k. Akad. der Wiss. in Wien, CVIII (1885), pp. 245-6; L. Traube,
âΠ–Palaeographische Forschungen IV,âΠ– in Abhandlungen d. h. t. Cl. d. k. Bayer. Akad. d. Wiss. XXIV. 1 (1906),
p. 27; A. W. Van Buren, âΠ–The Palimpsest of CiceroâΠ–s De Re Publica,âΠ– in Archaeological Institute of
America, Supplementary Papers of the American School of Classical Studies in Rome, ii (1908), pp. 89 sqq.; C.
Wessely, in his preface to the facsimile edition of the Vienna Livy (MS. lat. 15), published in the Leyden series,
Codices graeci et latini, etc., T. XI. See also W. G. Hale, âΠ–Syllabification in Roman speech,âΠ– in Harvard
Studies of Classical Philology, VII (1896), pp. 249-71, and W. Dennison, âΠ–Syllabification in Latin
Inscriptions,âΠ– in Classical Philology, I (1906), pp. 47-68.
10 14. That is, manuscripts written before the eighth century. The number of abbreviations increases considerably
during the eighth century. Previously the only symbols found in calligraphic majuscule manuscripts are the
âΠ–Nomina SacraâΠ– (deus, dominus, Iesus, Christus, spiritus, sanctus), which constantly occur in Christian
literature, and such suspensions as are met with in our fragment. A familiar exception is the manuscript of Gaius,
preserved in the Chapter library of Verona, MS. xv (13). This is full of abbreviations not found in contemporary
manuscripts containing purely literary or religious texts. Cf. W. Studemund, Gaii Institutionum Commentarii
Quattuor, etc., Leipsic 1874; and F. Steffens, Lateinische Paläographie 2, pl. 18 (pl. 8 of the Supplement). The
Oxyrhynchus papyrus of CiceroâΠ–s speeches is non-calligraphic and therefore not subject to the rule governing
calligraphic products. The same is true of marginal notes to calligraphic texts. See W. M. Lindsay, Notae Latinae,
Cambridge 1915, pp. 1-2.
15. Found only at the end of words in our fragment. Its use in the body of a word is, however, very ancient.
16. The C invariably has the two dots as well as the superior horizontal stroke.
17. The abbreviation is indicated by a stroke above the letters as well as by a dot after them.
11 18. An ancestor of our manuscript must have had tranq·, which was wrongly expanded to tranque.
19. This is a sign of antiquity. After the sixth century the M or Nstroke is usually placed above the vowel. The
practice of confining the omission of M or N to the end of a line is a characteristic of our very oldest manuscripts.
Later manuscripts omit M or N in the middle of a line and in the middle of a word. No distinction is made in our
manuscript between omitted M and omitted N. Some ancient manuscripts make a distinction. Cf. Traube, Nomina
Sacra, pp. 179, 181, 183, 185, final column of each page; and W. M. Lindsay, Notae Latinae, pp. 342 and 345.
20. The fraudulent character of the alleged discovery was exposed in masterly fashion by Ludwig Traube in his
âΠ–Palaeographische Forschungen IV,âΠ– published in the Abhandlungen der K. Bayerischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften, III Klasse, XXIV Band, 1 Abteilung, Munich 1904.
21. Cf. E. T. Merrill, âΠ–On the use by Aldus of his manuscripts of PlinyâΠ–s Letters,âΠ– in Classical Philology, XIV
(1919), p. 34.
22. That the hair side of the vellum retained the ink better than the flesh side may be seen from an examination of
facsimiles in the Leyden series Codices graeci et latini photographice depicti.
12 23. That the ink could scale off the flesh side of the vellum in less than three centuries is proved by the
condition of the famous Tacitus manuscript in Beneventan script in the Laurentian Library. It was written in the
eleventh century and shows retouched characters of the thirteenth. See foll. 102, 103 in the facsimile edition in the
Leyden series mentioned in the previous note.
24. On the subject of omissions and the clues they often furnish, see the exhaustive treatise by A. C. Clark entitled
The Descent of Manuscripts, Oxford 1918.
13 25. Our scribeâΠ–s method is as patient as it is unreflecting. Apparently he does not commit to memory small
intelligible units of text, but is copying word for word, or in some places even letter for letter.
14 26. See below, p. 16.
27. See below, p. 16.
15 28. See below, p. 16.
16 29. For the pertinent literature on the manuscripts in the following list the student is referred to TraubeâΠ–s
Vorlesungen und Abhandlungen, Vol. I, pp. 171-261, Munich 1909, and the index in Vol. III, Munich 1920. The
chief works of facsimiles referred to below are: Zangemeister and Wattenbach, Exempla codicum latinorum
litteris maiusculis scriptorum, Heidelberg 1876 & 1879; E. Chatelain, Paléographie des classiques latins,
Paris 1884-1900, and Uncialis scriptura codicum latinorum novis exemplis illustrata, Paris 1901-2; and

Notes to Part I 22
Pliny Letters, Fragment

Steffens, Lateinische Paläographie2, Treves 1907. (Second edition in French appeared in 1910.)
19 30. In later uncials the fore-stroke is often a horizontal hair-line.
21 31. This supposition will be strengthened by Professor Rand; see p. 53.
32. Compare, for example, the facsimile of a French deed of sale at Roye, November 24, 1433, reproduced in
Recueil de Fac-similés à lâΠ–usage de lâΠ–Ã©cole des chartes. Premier fascicule (Paris 1880), No. 1.
33. No mention of either of these is to be found in Dom Toussaints du PlessisâΠ– Histoire de lâΠ–Ã©glise de
Meaux. For documents with similar opening formulas, see ibid. vol. ii (Paris 1731), pp. 191, 258, 269, 273.

23

[TRANSCRIPTION]*

* The original manuscript is in scriptura continua. For the readerâΠ–s convenience, words have been separated and
punctuation added in the transcription.
In a few places the transcribers used V in place of U. This appears to be an error, but has not
been changed.
folio 48r folio 48v
folio 49r folio 49v
folio 50r folio 50v
folio 51r folio 51v
folio 52r folio 52v
folio 53r folio 53v
48r
LIBER·II·
ESSIT UT IPSE MIHI DIXERIT
C
CUM CON
SULERET QUAM CITO
SESTERTIUM SESCEN
TIES INPLETURUS ESSET
INUENISSE SE EX
TA DUPLICATA QUIBUS 1. L added by a hand which seems contemporary, if not the scribeâΠ–s own.
PORTENDI MILLIES1 ET If the scribeâΠ–s, he used a finer pen for corrections.
DUCENTIES HABITURUM ET
HABEBIT SI
MODO UT COEPIT ALIENA
TESTAMENTA
QUOD EST IMPROBISSIMUM
GENUS FAL
SI IPSIS QUORUM SUNT ILLA
DICTAUERIT
UALE
2· C · PLINI · SECUNDI

EPISTULARUM · EXPLICIT · 2-2 The colophon is written in rustic capitals, the middle line being in red.
LIBER · II.

[TRANSCRIPTION]* 23
Pliny Letters, Fragment

· INCIPIT · LIBER · III ·


FELICITER2

24 48v
AD CALUISIUM RUFUM1 1. On this and the following page lines in red alternate with lines in
5 NESCIO AN ULLUM black. The first line is in red.
AD UIBIUM · MAXIMUM
QUOD · IPSE AMICIS TUIS
AD CAERELLIAE HISPULLAE2 2. The h seems written over an erasure.
CUM PATREM TUUM
10 AD CAECILIUM3 MACRINUM 3. ci above the line by first hand.
QUAMUIS ET AMICI
AD BAEBIUM MACRUM
PERGRATUM EST MIHI
4AD ANNIUM4 SEUERUM 4-4 Over an erasure apparently.
15 4EX HEREDITATE4 QUAE
AD CANINIUM RUFUM
MODO NUNTIATUS EST
AD SUETON5 TRANQUE 5. t over an erasure.
FACIS AD PRO CETERA
20 AD CORNELIUM6 MINICIANUM 6. c over an erasure.
POSSUM IAM PERSCRIB
AD UESTRIC SPURINN ·
COMPOSUISSE ME QUAED

25 49r
AD IULIUM GENITOR ·
5 EST OMNINO ARTEMIDORI
AD CATILINUM SEUER ·
UENIAM AD CENAM
AD UOCONIUM ROMANUM
LIBRUM QUO NUPER
10 AD PATILIUM
REM ATROCEM
AD SILIUM PROCUL ·
PETIS UT LIBELLOS TUOS
ad nepotem adnotasse uideor fata dictaque·1 1. Added interlineally, in black, by first hand using a finer
AD IULIUM SERUIAN ·2 pen.
2. This is followed by an erasure of the letters um in red.
15 RECTE OMNIA
AD UIRIUM SEUERUM
OFFICIU CONSULATUS

LIBER·II· 24
Pliny Letters, Fragment

AD CALUISIUM RUFUM ·
ADSUMO TE IN CONSILIUM
20 AD MAESIUM MAXIMUM
MEMINISTINE TE
AD CORNELIUM PRISCUM
AUDIO UALERIUM MARTIAL ·

26 49v
· EPISTULARUM ·
PLINIUS · CALUISIO SUO
·C·
SALUTEM
ESCIO AN ULLUM IUCUNDIUS
N
TEMPUS
EXEGERIM QUAM QUO NUPER APUD
SPU
RINNAM FUI ADEO QUIDEM UT
NEMINEM
5 MAGIS IN SENECTUTE SI MODO
SENESCE
RE DATUM EST AEMULARI UELIM
NIHIL
EST ENIM ILLO UITAE GENERE DISTIN
CTIUS ME AUTEM UT CERTUS SIDERUM
CURSUS ITA UITA HOMINUM
DISPOSITA
10 DELECTAT SENUM PRAESERTIM
NAM
IUUENES ADHUC CONFUSA QUAEDAM
ET QUASI TURBATA NON INDECENT SE
NIBUS PLACIDA OMNIA ET ORDINATA1
CON
UENIUNT QUIBUS INDUSTRIA 1. Letters above the line were added by first or contemporary hand.
SERUA1TURPIS
15 AMBITIO EST HANC REGULAM
SPURIN
NA CONSTANTISSIME SERUAT · QUIN
ETIAM
PARUA HAEC PARUA · SI NON
COTIDIE FIANT
ORDINE QUODAM ET UELUT ORBE
CIRCUM

2. u corrected to e.

· EPISTULARUM · 25
Pliny Letters, Fragment

AGIT MANE LECTULO2 CONTINETUR


HORA
20 SECUNDA CALCEOS POSCIT
AMBULAT MI
LIA PASSUUM TRIA NEC MINUS
ANIMUM
QUAM CORPUS EXERCET SI ADSUNT
AMICI
HONESTISSIMI SERMONES
EXPLICANTUR
SI NON LIBER LEGITUR INTERDUM
ETIAM PRAE
25 SENTIBUS AMICIS SI TAMEN ILLI
NON GRAUAN
TUR DEINDE CONSIDIT3 ET LIBER 3. Second i corrected to e (not the regular uncial form) apparently by
RURSUS the first or contemporary hand.
AUT SERMO LIBRO POTIOR · MOX
UEHICULUM

27 50r
· LIBER · III ·
SCENDIT ADSUMIT
A
UXOREM SINGU
LARIS EXEMPLI UEL
ALIQUEM AMICORUM
UT ME PROXIME QUAM
PULCHRUM ILLUD
QUAM DULCE SECRETUM
QUANTUM IBI AN
5 TIQUITATIS QUAE FACTA
QUOS UIROS AU
DIAS QUIBUS PRAECEPTIS
IMBUARE QUAMUIS
ILLE HOC
TEMPERAMENTUM
MODESTIAE
SUAE INDIXERIT NE
PRAECIPE REUIDEATUR
PERACTIS SEPTEM MILIBUS
PASSUUM ITE
10 RUM AMBULAT MILLE
ITERUM RESIDIT

· LIBER · III · 26
Pliny Letters, Fragment

UEL SE CUBICULO AC
STILO REDDIT SCRI
BIT ENIM ET QUIDEM
UTRAQUE LINGUA LY
RICA DOCTISSIMA MIRA
ILLIS DULCEDO
MIRA SUAUITAS MIRA 1. The scribe first wrote hilaritatis. To correct the error he or a contemporary hand
HILARITAṪİS1 CUIUS placed dots above the t and i and drew a horizontal line through them to indicate
15 GRATIAM CUMULAT that they should be omitted. This is the usual method in very old manuscripts.
2. sanctitatis is corrected to sanctitas in the manner described in the preceding
SANCTITAṪİS2 SCRI
note.
BENTIS UBI HORA BALNEI
NUNTIATA EST
EST AUTEM HIEME NONA ·
AESTATE OCTA
UA IN SOLE SI CARET
UENTO AMBULAT
NUDUS DEINDE MOUETUR
PILA UEHE
20 MENTER ET DIU NAM
HOC QUOQUE EXER
CITATIONIS GENERE
PUGNAT CUM SE
NECTUTE LOTUS ACCUBAT
ET PAULIS
PER CIBUM DIFFERT
INTERIM AUDIT LE
GENTEM REMISSIUS
ALIQUID ET DULCIUS
25 PER HOC OMNE TEMPUS
LIBERUM EST
AMICIS UEL EADEM
FACERE UEL ALIA
SI MALINT ADPONITUR3 3. i added above the line, apparently by first hand.
CENA NON MINUS

28 50v
· EPISTULARUM ·

ITIDA QUAM FRUGI IN ARGENTO


N
PURO ET

· EPISTULARUM · 27
Pliny Letters, Fragment

ANTIQUO SUNT IN USU ET 1. The letters above the line are additions by the first, or by another
CHORINTHIA1 QUIBUS DE contemporary, hand.
LECTATUR ET ADFICITUR
FREQUENTER CO
MOEDIS CENA DISTINGUITUR UT
UOLUPTA
5 TES QUOQUE STUDIIS
CONDIANTUR SUMIT ALI
QUID DE NOCTE ET AESTATE
NEMINI1 HOC LON
GUM EST TANTA COMITATE
CONUIUIUM
TRAHITUR INDE ILLI POST
SEPTIMUM ET
SEPTUAGENSIMUM ANNUM
AURIUM
10 OCULORUM UIGOR INTEGER
INDE AGILE
ET UIUIDUM CORPUS SOLAQUE EX
SENEC
TUTE PRUDENTIA HANC EGO
UITAM UO
TO ET COGITATIONE PRAESUMO
INGRES
SURUS AUIDISSIME UT PRIMUM
RATIO AE
15 TATIS RECEPTUI CANERE 2. permiserit: t stands over an erasure, and original it seems to be
PERMISERIT2 IN corrected to et, with e having the rustic form.
TERIM MILLE LABORIBUS
CONTEROR QUI HO
RUM MIHI ET SOLACIUM ET
EXEMPLUM
EST IDEM SPURINNA NAM ILLE
QUOQUE
QUOAD HONESTUM FUIT OBIIT1
OFFICIA
20 GESSIT MAGISTRATUS
PROVINCIAS RE
XIT MULTOQUE LABORE HOC
OTIUM ME
RUIT IGITUR EUNDEM MIHI
CURSUM EUN

· EPISTULARUM · 28
Pliny Letters, Fragment

DEM TERMINUM STATUO IDQUE


IAM NUNC
APUD TE SUBSIGNO UT SI ME
LONGIUS SE
25 EUEHI3 UIDERIS IN IUS UOCES AD 3. The scribe first wrote longius se uehi. The e which precedes uehi was
HANC EPIS added by him when he later corrected the page and deleted se.
TULAM MEAM ET QUIESCERE 4. uale: The abbreviation is marked by a stroke above as well as by a dot
after the word.
IUBEAS CUM
INERTIAE CRIMEN EFFUGERO
UALE·4

29 51r
· LIBER · III ·
A tout ceulz qui ces presentes lettres verront et orront
Jehan de sannemeres garde du scel de la provoste de
Meaulx & francois Beloy clerc Jure de par le Roy
nostre sire a ce faire Salut sachient tuit que par.1
PLINIUS · MAXIMO 1. A fifteenth-century addition, see above, p. 21.
·C̖·
SUO SALUTEM
QUOD IPSE AMICIS TUIS OPTULISSEM
· SI MI
HI EADEM MATERIA SUPPETERET ID
NUNC
IURE UIDEOR A TE MEIS PETITURUS
ARRIA
5 NUS MATURUS ALTINATIUM EST
PRINCEPS
CUM DICO PRINCEPS NON DE
FACULTATI
BUS LOQUOR QUAE ILLI LARGE SUPER
SUNT SED DE CASTITATE IUSTITIA
GRA
UITATE PRUDENTIA HUIOS EGO CONSI
10 LIO IN NEGOTIIS IUDICIO IN
STUDIIS UT
OR NAM PLURIMUM FIDE PLURIMUM
VERITATE PLURIMUM
INTELLEGENTIA
PRAESTAT AMAT ME NIHIL POSSUM
AR
DENTIUS DICERE UT TU KARET 2. The scribe originally divided i-deo between two lines. On correcting
AMBITUI2 the page he (or a contemporary corrector) cancelled the i at the end of
the line and added it before the next.

· LIBER · III · 29
Pliny Letters, Fragment

15 IDEO SE IN EQUESTRI GRADU 3. i changed to e (not the uncial form) possibly by the original hand in
TENUIT CUM correcting.
FACILE POSSIT3 ASCENDERE
ALTISSIMUM
MIHI TAMEN ORNANDUS
EXCOLENDUS
QUE EST ITAQUE MAGNI AESTIMO
DIGNITATI
EIUS ALIQUID ADSTRUERE
INOPINANTIS
20 NESCIENTIS IMMO ETIAM
FORTASSE
NOLENTIS ADSTRUERE AUTEM QUOD
SIT
SPLENDIDUM NEC MOLESTUM CUIUS
GENERIS QUAE PRIMA OCCASIO TIBI
CON
FERAS IN EUM ROGO HABEBIS ME
HABE
25 BIS IPSUM GRATISSIMUM
DEBITOREM
QUAMUIS ENIM ISTA NON ADPETAT
TAM
GRATE TAMEN EXCIPIT QUAM SI
CONCU

30 51v
· EPISTULARUM ·

ISCAT · UALE
P PLINIUS · CORELLIAE ·
·C̖·
SALUTEM ·
UM PATREM TUUM GRAUISSIMUM ET
C
SAN
CTISSIMUM UIRUM SUSPEXERIM MAGIS
5 AN AMAUERIM DUBITEM TEQUE IN
MEMO
RIAM EIUS ET IN HONOREM TUUM 1. inuice: corrected to unice by cancelling i and ui (the
IUNUIICE1 DILIGAM CUPIAM NECESSE EST cancellation stroke is barely visible) and writing u and i above the
ATQUE ETIAM line. The correction is by a somewhat later hand.
2. u above the line is by the first hand.
QUANTUM IN ME FUERIT ENITAR UT
3. q· above the line is added by a somewhat later hand.

· EPISTULARUM · 30
Pliny Letters, Fragment

FILIUS
TUUS AUO SIMILIS EXSISTAT EQUIDEM
10 MALO MATERNO QUAMQUAM2 ILLI
PATER
NUS ETIAM CLARUS SPECTATUSQUE3
CONTIGE
RIT PATER QUOQUE ET PATRUUS
INLUSTRI LAU
DE CONSPICUI QUIBUS OMNIBUS ITA
DEMUM
SIMILIS ADOLESCET SIBI INBUTUS HONES
15 TIS ARTIBUS FUERIT QUAS PLURIMUM 4. Final r is added by a somewhat later hand.
REFER4 5. The dots above ra indicate deletion. The cancellation stroke is
ṖȦT5 A QUO POTISSIMUM ACCIPIAT oblique.
ADHUC
ILLUM PUERITIAE RATIO INTRA
CONTUBER
NIUM TUUM TENUIT PRAECEPTORES
DOMI
HABUIT UBI EST ERRORIBUS MODICA 6. A somewhat later corrector, possibly contemporary, changed est
UELST6 ETIAM to uel by adding u before e and l above s and cancelling both s
20 NULLA MATERIA IAM STUDIA EIUS and t.
EXTRA
LIMEN CONFERANDA SUNT IAM
CIRCUMSPI
CIENDUS RHETOR LATINUS CUIUS SCHO
LAE SEUERITAS PUDOR INPRIMIS
CASTITAS
CONSTET ADEST ENIM ADULESCENTI NOS
25 TRO CUM CETERIS NATURAE
FORTUNAEQUE
DOTIBUS EXIMIA CORPORIS 7. h added above the line by a hand which may be contemporary.
PULCHRITUDO7 CUI IN HOC LUBRICO
AETATIS NON PRAECEP

31 52r
· LIBER · III ·

OR MODO SED CUSTOS ETIAM RECTORQ


T
QUAERENDUS EST UIDEOR ERGO DEMON UE

· LIBER · III · 31
Pliny Letters, Fragment

STRARE TIBI POSSE IULIUM GENITIOREM1 1. The scribe wrote gentiorem: a somewhat later corrector
AMNATUR2 A ME IUDICIO3 TAMEN MEO NON changed it to genitorem by adding an i above the line
5 OBSTAT KARITAS HOMINIS QUAE EX4IUDI between n and t and cancelled the i after t.
2. Above the m a somewhat later hand wrote n. It was
CIO NATA EST UIR EST EMENDATUS ET GRA
cancelled by a crude modern hand using lead.
UIS PAULO ETIAM HORRIDIOR ET DURIOR 3. u added above the line by the later hand.
UT IN HAC LICENTIA TEMPORUM QUAN 4. ex added above the line by the later corrector.
TUM ELOQUENTIA UALEAT PLURIBUS CRE
10 DERE POTES NAM DICENDI FACULTAS
APERTA ET EXPOSITA · STATIM CERNITUR
UITA HOMINUM ALTOS RECESSUS MAG
NASQUE LATEBRAS HABET CUIUS PRO GE
NITORE ME SPONSOREM ACCIPE NIHIL
15 EX HOC UIRO FILIUS TUUS AUDIET NISI
PROFUTURUM NIHIL DISCET QUOD NESCIS5 SE 5. cis is added in the margin by the later hand. The original
RECTIUS FUERIT NEC6 MINUS SAEPE AB scribe wrote nes | se.
ILLO QUAM A TE MEQUE ADMONEBITUR 6. c is added above the line by the later hand.
QUIBUS IMAGINIBUS ONERETUR QUAE NOMI
20 NA ET QUANTA SUSTINEAT PROINDE FAUEN
TIBUS DIIS TRADE EUM7 PRAECEPTORI A 7. e added above the line.
QUO MORES PRIMUM MOX ELOQUENTIAM
DISCAT QUAE MALE SINE MORIBUS DIS
CITUR UALE
PLINIUS MACRINO SALUTEM
·C·
25 UAMUIS ET AMICI QUOS PRAESENTES
Q
HABEBAM ET SERMONES HOMINUM

32 52v
· EPISTULARUM ·

ACTUM MEUM COMPROUASSE UIDEAN 1. p added above the line by the scribe.
F
TUR MAGNI TAMEN AESTIMO SCIRE QUID 2. The superfluous a is cancelled by means of a dot above the
SENTIAS TU NAM CUIUS INTEGRA RE CON letter.
SILIUM EXQUIRERE OPTASSEM1 HUIUS
ETIAM
5 PERACTA IUDICIȦUM2 NOSSE MIRE
CONCU
PISCO CUM PUBLICUM OPUS MEA PECU
NIA INCHOATURUS IN TUSCOS EXCUCURISsem ac
aefectus aerari
cepto ut pr COMMEATU3 LEGATI PROVINCIAE

· EPISTULARUM · 32
Pliny Letters, Fragment

BAETICAE QUESTURI DE 3. The scribe originally wrote excucuris | sem commeatu,


PROCONSULATUá¹ 4 omitting accepto ut praefectus aerari. Noticing his error, he
10 CAECILII CLASSICI ADVOCATUM ME A SE erased sem and wrote it at the end of the preceding line, and
added the omitted words over the erasure and the word
NATU PETIERUNT COLLEGAE OPTIMI
commeatu.
MEIQUE 4. The dot over s indicates deletion.
AMANTISSIMI DE COMMUNIS OFFICII NE 5. tum: error due to diplography. The correction is made by
CESSITATIBUS PRAELOCUTI EXCUSARE means of dots and crossing out.
6. r added by the scribe.
ME ET EXIMERE TEMPTARUNT FACTUM
15 ṪUÌ–á¹Π5 EST SENATUS CONSULTUM
PERQUAM
HONORIFICUM UT DARER6
PROVINCIALIBUS
PATRONUS SI AB IPSO ME IMPETRASSENT
LEGATI RURSUS INDUCTI ITERUM ME IAM
PRAESENTEM ADUOCATUM POSTULAUE7 7. u added apparently by a contemporary hand.
20 RUNT INPLORANTES FIDEM MEAM
QUAM ESSENT CONTRA MASSAM BAE
BIUM EXPERTI ADLEGANTES PATROCINII8 8. c added above the line, apparently by a contemporary hand.
FOEDUS SECUTA EST SENATUS CLARIS
SIMA ADSENSIO QUAE SOLET DECRETA
25 PRAECURRERE TUM EGO DESINO IN
QUAM P. C. PUTARE ME IUSTAS EXCUSA
TIONIS CAUSAS ADTULISSE PLACUIT ET

33 53r
· LIBER · III ·

ODESTIA SERMONIS ET RATIO CO


M
PULIT AUTEM ME AD HOC CONSILIUMMNON
SOLUM CONSENSUS SENATUS QUAMQUAM
HIC MAXIME UERUM ET ALII QUIDEM
5 MINORIS SED TAMEN NUMERI UENI
EBAT IN MENTEM PRIORES NOSTROS
ETIAM SINGULORUM HOSPÄ°TIUM1 INIU 1. Deletion of i before u is marked by a dot above the letter
RIAS ACCUSATIONIBUS UOLUNTARIIS EX and a slanting stroke through it.
SECUTOS QUO DEFORMIUS ARBITRABAR
10 PUBLICI HOSPITII IURA2 NEGLEGERE PRAE 2. h and i above the line are apparently by the first hand.
TEREA CUM RECORDARER QUANTA
PRO IISDEM BAETICIS PRIORE ADUOCA
TIONE ETIAM PERICULA SUBISSEM CON
SERVANDUM UETERIS OFFICII MERITUM

· LIBER · III · 33
Pliny Letters, Fragment

15 NOVO VIDEBATUR EST ENIM ITA COM


PARATUM UT ANTIQUIORA BENEFICIA SUB
UERTAS NISI ILLA POSTERIORIBUS CUMU
LES NAM QUAMLIBET SAEPE OBLIGA(N)3 TI 3. n (in brackets) is a later addition.
SIQUID4 UNUM NEGES HOC SOLUM 4. The letters uid are plainly retraced by a later hand. The
20 MEMINERUNT QUOD NEGATUM EST same hand retouched neges h in the same line.
5. i before n added by a later corrector who erased the i
DUCEBAR ETIAM QUOD DECESSERAT
which the scribe wrote after quod, in the line above.
CLASSICUS AMOTUMQUE ERAT QUOD
I5N EIUSMODI CAUSIS SOLET ESSE TRIS
ṪİTISSIMUM6 PERICULUM SENATORIS 6. Superfluous ti cancelled by means of dots and oblique
25 UIDEBAM ERGO ADUOCATIONI MEAE stroke.
NON MINOREM GRATIAM QUAM SI
UIUERET ILLE PROPOSITAM INUIDIAM

Uir erat in terra7 7. Added by a Caroline hand of the ninth century.

34 53v
· EPISTULARUM ·

ULLAM IN SUMMA
N
COMPUTABAM
SI MUNERE HOC TERTIO 1. r added above the line by the scribe or by a contemporary hand.
FUNGERER1 FACILI
OREM MIHI EXCUSATIONEM FORE
SI
QUIS INCIDISSET QUEM NON
DEBEREM
5 ACCUSARE NAM CUM EST
OMNIUM OFFI
CIORUM FINIS ALIQUIS TUM
OPTIME
LIBERTATI UENIA OBSEQUIO
PRAEPARA
TUR AUDISTI CONSILII MEI MOTUS
SUPER
EST ALTERUTRA EX PARTE
IUDICIUM TUUM

10 IN QUO MIHI AEQUE 2. i added above the second u by the scribe or by a contemporary hand.
IUCUINDA2 ERIT SIM 3. The scribe wrote dissitientis. A contemporary hand changed the second
PLICITAS DISSINTIENTIS3 QUAM i to e and wrote an n above the t.
4. de is cancelled by means of dots above the d and e and oblique strokes
COMPRO
drawn through them.

· EPISTULARUM · 34
Pliny Letters, Fragment

BANTIS AUCTORITAS UALE


PLINIUS MACRO
·C̖· · SUO · SALUTEM
ERGRATUM EST MIHI QUOD
P TAM DILIGEN
15 TER LIBROS AUONCULI MEI
LECTITAS UT
HABERE OMNES UELIS
QUAERASQUE QUI
SINT OMNES ḖĖFUNGAR4
INDICIS PARTIBUS
ATQUE ETIAM QUO SINT ORDINE
SCRIPTI
NOTUM TIBI FACIAM EST ENIM
HAEC
20 QUOQUE STUDIOSIS NON
INIUCUNDA COG
NITIO DE IACULATIONE EQUESTRI
UNUS ·
HUNC CUM PRAEFECTUS ALAE
MILITA
RET· PARI5 INGENIO CURAQUE 5. The strokes over the i at the end of this word and at the beginning of the
COMPOSUIT· next were added by a corrector who can not be much older than the
thirteenth century.
DE UITA POMPONI SECUNDI DUO
A QUO
25 SINGULARITER AMATUS HOC
MEMORIAE
AMICI QUASI DEBITUM MUNUS
EXSOL
UIT · BELLORUM GERMANIAE
UIGINTI QUIBUS

35

Part II.

THE TEXT OF THE MORGAN FRAGMENT

BY

Part II. 35
Pliny Letters, Fragment

E. K. RAND

37

THE MORGAN FRAGMENT AND ALDUSâΠ–S ANCIENT CODEX PARISINUS. 1

The Codex Parisinus A LDUS MANUTIUS, in the preface to his edition of PlinyâΠ–s Letters, printed
at Venice in 1508, expresses his gratitude to Aloisio Mocenigo, Venetian ambassador in Paris, for bringing to
Italy an exceptionally fine manuscript of the Letters; the book had been found not long before at or near Paris
by the architect Fra Giocondo of Verona. The editio princeps, 1471, was based on a family of manuscripts
that omitted Book VIII, called Book IX Book VIII, and did not contain Book X, the correspondence between
Pliny and Trajan. Subsequent editions had only in part made good these deficiencies. More than a half of
Book X, containing the letters numbered 41-121 in editions of our day, was published by Avantius in 1502
from a copy of the Paris manuscript made by Petrus Leander.2 Aldus himself, two years before printing his
edition, had received from Fra Giocondo a copy of the entire manuscript, with six other volumes, some of
them printed editions which Giocondo had collated with manuscripts. Aldus, addressing Mocenigo, thus
describes his acquisition:

âΠ–Deinde Iucundo Veronensi Viro singulari ingenio, ac bonarum literarum studiosissimo, quod et easdem
Secundi epistolas ab eo ipso exemplari a se descriptas in Gallia diligenter ut facit omnia, et sex alia uolumina
epistolarum partim manu scripta, partim impressa quidem, sed cum antiquis collata exemplaribus, ad me ipse
sua sponte, quae ipsius est ergo studiosos omneis beneuolentia, adportauerit, idque biennio ante, quam tu
ipsum mihi exemplar publicandum tradidisses.âΠ–

So now the ancient manuscript itself had come. Aldus emphasizes its value in supplying the defects of
previous editions. The Letters will now include, he declares:

âΠ–multae non ante impressae. Tum Graeca correcta, et suis locis restituta, atque retectis adulterinis, uera
reposita. Item fragmentatae epistolae, integrae factae. In medio etiam epistolae libri octaui de Clitumno fonte
non solum uertici calx additus, et calci uertex, sed decem quoque epistolae interpositae, ac ex Nono libro
Octauus factus, et ex Octauo Nonus, Idque beneficio exemplaris correctissimi, & mirae, ac uenerandae
Vetustatis.âΠ–

38

The presence of such a manuscript, âΠ–most correct, and of a marvellous and venerable antiquity,âΠ– stimulates
the imagination: Aldus thinks that now even the lost Decades of Livy may appear again:

âΠ–Solebam superioribus Annis Aloisi Vir Clariss. cum aut T. Liuii Decades, quae non extare creduntur, aut
Sallustii, aut Trogi historiae, aut quemuis alium ex antiquis autoribus inuentum esse audiebam, nugas dicere,
ac fabulas. Sed ex quo tu ex Gallia has Plinii epistolas in Italia reportasti, in membrana scriptas, atque adeo
diuersis a nostris characteribus, ut nisi quis diu assuerit, non queat legere, coepi sperare mirum in modum,
fore aetate nostra, ut plurimi ex bonis autoribus, quos non extare credimus, inueniantur.âΠ–

There was something unusual in the character of the script that made it hard to read; its ancient appearance
even suggested to Aldus a date as early as that of Pliny himself.

E. K. RAND 36
Pliny Letters, Fragment

âΠ–Est enim uolumen ipsum non solum correctissimum, sed etiam ita antiquum, ut putem scriptum Plinii
temporibus.âΠ–

This is enthusiastic language. In the days of Italian humanism, a scholar might call almost any book a codex
pervetustus if it supplied new readings for his edition and its script seemed unusual. As Professor Merrill
remarks:3

âΠ–The extreme age that Aldus was disposed to attribute to the manuscript will, of course, occasion no wonder
in the minds of those who are familiar with the vague notions on such matters that prevailed among scholars
before the study of palaeography had been developed into somewhat of a science. The manuscript may have
been written in one of the so-called âΠ–nationalâΠ– hands, Lombardic, Visigothic, or Merovingian. But if it were
in a âΠ–GothicâΠ– hand of the twelfth or thirteenth centuries, it might have appeared sufficiently grotesque and
illegible to a reader accustomed for the most part to the exceedingly clear Italian book hands of the fifteenth
century.âΠ–

In a later article Professor Merrill well adds that even the uncial script would have seemed difficult and alien
to one accustomed to the current fifteenth-century style.4 A contemporary and rival editor, Catanaeus,
disputed AldusâΠ–s claims. In his second edition of the Letters (1518), he professed to have used a very ancient
book that came down from Germany and declared that the Paris manuscript had no right to the antiquity
which Aldus had imputed to it. But Catanaeus has been proved a liar.5 He had no ancient manuscript from
Germany, and abused Aldus mainly to conceal his cribbings from that scholarâΠ–s edition; we may discount his
opinion of the age of the Parisinus. Until Aldus, an eminent scholar and honest publisher,6 is proved guilty,
we should assume him innocent of mendacity or naïve ignorance. He speaks in earnest; his words ring true.
We must be prepared for the possibility that his ancient manuscript was really ancient.

39 Since AldusâΠ–s time the Parisinus has disappeared. To quote Merrill again:7

âΠ–This wonderful manuscript, like so many others, appears to have vanished from earth. Early editors saw no
especial reason for preserving what was to them but copy for their own better printed texts. Possibly some
leaves of it may be lying hid in old bindings; possibly they went to cover preserve-jars, or tennis-racquets;
possibly into some final dust-heap. At any rate the manuscript is gone; the copy by Iucundus is gone; the copy
of the correspondence with Trajan that Avantius owed to Petrus Leander is gone; if others had any other
copies of Book X, in whole or in part, they are gone too.âΠ–

The Bodleian volume In 1708 Thomas Hearne, the antiquary, bought at auction a peculiar volume of
PlinyâΠ–s Letters. It consisted of BeroaldusâΠ–s edition of the nine books (1498), the portions of Book X
published by Avantius in 1502, and, on inserted leaves, the missing letters of Books VIII and X.8 The printed
portions, moreover, were provided with over five hundred variant readings and lemmata in a different hand
from that which appeared on the inserted leaves; the hand that added the variants also wrote in the margin the
sixteenth letter of Book IX, which is not in the edition of Beroaldus. Hearne recognized the importance of this
supplementary matter, for he copied the variants into his own edition of the Letters (1703), intending,
apparently, to use them in a larger edition which he is said to have published in 1709; he also lent the book to
Jean Masson, who refers to it in his Plinii Vita. Upon HearneâΠ–s death, this valuable volume was acquired by
the Bodleian Library in Oxford, but lay unnoticed until Mr. E. G. Hardy, in 1888,9 examined it and, after a
comparison of the readings, pronounced it the very copy from which Aldus had printed his edition in 1508.
External proof of this highly exciting surmise seemed to appear in a manuscript note on the last page of the
edition of Avantius, written in the hand that had inserted the variants and supplements throughout the
volume:10

âΠ–hae plinii iunioris epistolae ex uetustissimo exemplari parisiensi et restitutae et emendatae sunt opera et
industria ioannis iucundi prestantissimi architecti hominis imprimis antiquarii.âΠ–

THE MORGAN FRAGMENT AND ALDUSâΠ–S ANCIENT CODEX PARISINUS.1 37


Pliny Letters, Fragment

What more natural to conclude than that here is the very copy that Aldus prepared from the ancient
manuscript and the collations and transcripts sent him by Fra Giocondo? One fact blocks this attractive
conjecture: though there are many agreements between the readings of the emended Bodleian book and those
of Aldus, there are also many disagreements. Mr. Hardy removed the obstacle by assuming that Aldus made
changes in the proof; but the changes are numerous; they are not too numerous for a scholar who can mark up
his galleys free of cost, but they are decidedly too numerous if the scholar is also his own printer.

40 Merrill, in a brilliant and searching article,11 entirely demolishes HardyâΠ–s argument. Unlike most
destructive critics, he replaces the exploded theory by still more interesting fact. For the rediscovery of the
Bodleian book and a proper appreciation of its value, students of PlinyâΠ–s text must always be grateful to
Hardy; we now know, however, that the volume was never owned by Aldus. The scholar who put its parts
together and added the variants with his own hand was the famous Hellenist Guillaume Budé (Budaeus).
The parts on the supplementary leaves were done by some copyist who imitated the general effect of the type
used in the book itself; Budaeus added his notes on these inserted leaves in the same way as elsewhere. It had
been shown before by Keil12 that Budaeus must have used the readings of the Parisinus; indeed, it is from his
own statement in Annotationes in Pandectas that we learn of the discovery of the ancient manuscript by
Giocondo:13

âΠ–Verum haec epistola et aliae non paucae in codicibus impressis non leguntur: nos integrum ferme Plinium
habemus: primum apud parrhisios repertum opera Iucundi sacerdotis: hominis antiquarii Architectique
famigerati.âΠ–

The wording here is much like that in the note at the end of the Bodleian book. After establishing his case
convincingly from the readings followed by Budaeus in his quotations from the Letters, Merrill eventually
was able to compare the handwriting with the acknowledged script of Budaeus and to find that the two are
identical.14 The Bodleian book, then, is not AldusâΠ–s copy for the printer. It is BudaeusâΠ–s own collation
from the Parisinus. Whether he examined the manuscript directly or used a copy made by Giocondo is
doubtful; the note at the end of the Bodleian volume seems to favor the latter possibility. Budaeus does not by
any means give a complete collation, but what he does give constitutes, in MerrillâΠ–s opinion, our best
authority for any part of the lost Parisinus.15

The Morgan fragment possibly a part of the lost Parisinus

The script Perhaps we may now say the Bodleian volume has been hitherto our best authority. For a
fragment of the ancient book, if my conjecture is right, is now, after various journeys, reposing in the Pierpont
Morgan Library in New York City.

First of all, we are impressed with the script. It is an uncial of about the year 500 A.D.—certainly
venerandae vetustatis. If Aldus had this same uncial codex at his disposal, we can understand his delight and
pardon his slight exaggeration, for it is only slight. The essential truth of his statement remains: he had found
a book of a different class from that of the ordinary manuscript—indeed diversis a nostris
characteribus. Instead of thinking him arrant knave or fool enough to 41 bring down âΠ–antiquityâΠ– to the
thirteenth century, we might charitably push back his definition of âΠ–nostri characteresâΠ– to include anything
in minuscules; script âΠ–not our ownâΠ– would be the majuscule hands in vogue before the Middle Ages. That is
a position palaeographically defensible, seeing that the humanistic script is a lineal descendant of the Caroline
variety. Furthermore, an uncial hand, though clear and regular as in our fragment, is harder to read than a
glance at a page of it promises. This is due to the writing of words continuously. It takes practice, as Aldus
says, to decipher such a script quickly and accurately. Moreover, the flesh sides of the leaves are faded.

Provenience and contents We next note that the fragment came to the Pierpont Morgan Library from
AldusâΠ–s country, where, as Dr. Lowe has amply shown, it was written; how it came into the possession of

THE MORGAN FRAGMENT AND ALDUSâΠ–S ANCIENT CODEX PARISINUS.1 38


Pliny Letters, Fragment

the Marquis Taccone would be interesting to know. But, like the Parisinus, the book to which our fragment
belonged had not stayed in Italy always. It had made a trip to France—and was resting there in the
fifteenth century, as is proved by the French note of that period on fol. 51r. We may say âΠ–the bookâΠ– and not
merely âΠ–the present six leaves,âΠ– for the fragment begins with fol. 48, and the foliation is of the fifteenth
century. The last page of our fragment is bright and clear, showing no signs of wear, as it would if no more
had followed it;16 I will postpone the question of what probably did follow. Moreover, if the probatio pennae
on fol.53r is Carolingian,17 it would appear that the book had been in France at the beginning as well as at the
end of the Middle Ages. Thus our manuscript may well have been one of those brought up from Italy by the
emissaries of Charlemagne or their successors during the revival of learning in the eighth and ninth centuries.
The outer history of our book, then, and the character of its script, comport with what we know of AldusâΠ–s
Parisinus.

The text closely related to that of Aldus But we must now subject our fragment to internal tests. If
Aldus used the entire manuscript of which this is a part, his text must show a general conformity to that of the
fragment. An examination of the appended collation will establish this fact beyond a doubt. The references are
to KeilâΠ–s critical edition of 1870, but the readings are verified from MerrillâΠ–s apparatus. I will designate the
fragment as Î , using P for AldusâΠ–s Parisinus and a for his edition.

We may begin by excluding two probable misprints in Aldus, 64, 1 conturbernium and 65, 17 subeuertas.
Then there are various spellings in which Aldus adheres to the fashion of his day, as sexcenties, millies, millia,
tentarunt, caussas, autoritas, quanquam, syderum, hyeme, coena, ocium, hospicii, negociis, solatium,
adulescet, 42 exoluit, Thuscos; there are other spellings which modern editors might not disdain, i.e., aerarii
and illustri, and some that they have accepted, namely apponitur, existat, impleturus, implorantes,
obtulissem, balinei, caret (not karet), caritas (not karitas).18

A study of our collation will also show some forty cases of correction in Î by either the scribe himself or a
second and possibly a third ancient hand. Here Aldus, if he read the pages of our fragment and read them with
care, might have seen warrant for following either the original text or the emended form, as he preferred. The
most important cases are:61, 14 sera] Î a serua Î 2 61, 21 considit] Î considet Î 2a. The original reading of Î is
clearly considit. The second i has been altered to a capital e, which of course is not the proper form for uncial.
62, 5 residit] Î residet a. Here Î is not corrected, but Aldus may have thought that the preceding case of
considet (m. 2) supported what he supposed the better form residet. 63, 11 posset] a possit (in posset m. 1?) Î .
Again the corrected e is capital, not uncial, but Aldus would have had no hesitation in adopting the reading of
the second hand. 64, 2 modica vel etiam] a modica est etiam (corr. m. 2) Î . 64, 28 excurrissem accepto, ut
praefectus aerari, commeatu] a. Here Î omitted accepto ut praefectus aerari,—evidently a line of the
manuscript that he was copying, for there are no similar endings to account otherwise for the omission. 66, 2
dissentientis] a ex dissitientis m. 1 (?) Î .

There are also a few careless errors of the first hand, uncorrected, in Î , which Aldus himself might easily have
corrected or have found the right reading already in the early editions. 62, 23 conteror quorum] a conteror qui
horum Î B F 63, 28 si] a sibi Î 64, 24 conprobasse] comprouasse Î .

In view of these certain errors of the first hand of Î , most of them corrected but a few not, Aldus may have
felt justified in abiding by one of the early editions in the following three cases, where Î might well have
seemed to him wrong; in 43 one of them (64,3) modern editors agree with him: 62, 20 aurium oculorum
vigor] Î aurium oculorumque uigor a 64, 3 proferenda] a conferanda Î 65, 11 et alii] Î etiam alii a.

There is only one case of possible emendation to note: 64, 29 questuri] Î quaesturi MVa. AldusâΠ–s reading, as
I learn from Professor Merrill, is in the anonymous edition ascribed to Roscius (Venice, 1492?), but not in any
of the editions cited by Keil. This may be a conscious emendation, but it is just as possibly an error of hearing
made by either Aldus or his compositor in repeating the word to himself as he wrote or set up the passage.

THE MORGAN FRAGMENT AND ALDUSâΠ–S ANCIENT CODEX PARISINUS.1 39


Pliny Letters, Fragment

Once in the text, quaesturi gives no offense, and is not corrected by Aldus in his edition of 1518. An
apparently more certain effort at emendation is reported by Keil on 62, 13, where Aldus is said to differ from
all the manuscripts and the editions in reading agere for facere. So he does in his second edition; but here he
has facere with everybody else. The changes in the second edition are few and are largely confined to the
correction of obvious misprints. There is no point in substituting agere for facere. I should attribute this
innovation to a careless compositor, who tried to memorize too large a bit of text, rather than to an emending
editor. At all events, it has no bearing on our immediate concern.

The striking similarity, therefore, between AldusâΠ–s text and that of our fragment confirms our surmise that
the latter may be a part of that ancient manuscript which he professes to have used in his edition. Whatever his
procedure may have been, he has produced a text that differs from Î only in certain spellings, in the
correction, with the help of existing editions, of three obvious errors of Î and of three of its readings that to
Aldus might well have seemed erroneous, in two misprints, and in one reading which is possibly an
emendation but which may just as well be another misprint. Thus the internal evidence of the text offers no
contradiction of what the script and the history of the manuscript have suggested. I can not claim to have
established an irrefutable conclusion, but the signs all point in one direction. I see enough evidence to warrant
a working hypothesis, which we may use circumspectly as a clue, submit to further tests, and abandon in case
these tests yield evidence with which it can not be reconciled.

Editorial methods of Aldus Further, if we are justified in our assumption that Aldus used the manuscript
of which Î is a part, the fragment is instructive as to his editorial methods. If he proceeded elsewhere as
carefully as here, he certainly did not perform his task with the high-handedness of the traditional humanistic
editor; rather, he treated his ancient witness with respect, and abandoned it only when confronted with what
seemed its obvious mistakes. I will revert to this matter at a later stage of the argument.

44

RELATION OF THE MORGAN FRAGMENT TO THE OTHER MANUSCRIPTS OF THE LETTERS.

B UT, it will be asked, how do we know that Aldus used Î rather than some other manuscript that had a
very similar text and that happened to have gone through the same travels? To answer this question we must
examine the relation of Î to the other extant manuscripts in the light of what is known of the transmission of
PlinyâΠ–s Letters in the Middle Ages. A convenient summary is given by Merrill on the basis of his abundant
researches.19

Classes of the manuscripts Manuscripts of the Letters may be divided into three classes, distinguished by
the number of books that each contains.

Class I, the ten-book family, consists of B (Bellovacensis or Riccardianus), now Ashburnhamensis, R 98 in


the Laurentian Library in Florence, its former home, whence it had been diverted on an interesting pilgrimage
by the noted book-thief Libri. This manuscript is attributed to the tenth century by Merrill, and by Chatelain in
his description of the book. But Chatelain labels his facsimile page âΠ–Saec. IX.âΠ–20 The latter seems the more
probable date. The free use of a flat-topped a, along with the general appearance of the script, reminds me of
the style in vogue at Fleury and its environs about the middle of the ninth century. A good specimen is
accessible in a codex of St. Hilary on the Psalms (Vaticanus Reginensis 95), written at Micy between 846 and
859, of which a page is reproduced by Ehrle and Liebaert.21 F (Florentinus), the other important

RELATION OF THE MORGAN FRAGMENT TO THE OTHER MANUSCRIPTS OF THE LETTERS. 40


Pliny Letters, Fragment

representative of this class, is also in the Laurentian Library (S. Marco 284). The date assigned to it seems
also too late. It is apparently as early as the tenth century, and also has some of the characteristics of the script
of Fleury; it is French work, at any rate. KeilâΠ–s suggestion22 that it may be the book mentioned as liber
epistolarum Gaii Plinii in a tenth-century catalogue of the manuscripts at 45 Lorsch may be perfectly correct;
though not written at Lorsch, it might have been presented to the monastery by that time.23 These two
manuscripts agree in containing, by the first hand, only Books I-V, vi (F having all and B only a part of the
sixth letter). However, as the initial title in B is plini · secundi · epistularum · libri · decem, we may
infer that some ancestor, if not the immediate ancestor, of B and F had all ten books.

In Class II the leading manuscript is another Laurentian codex (Mediceus XLVII 36), which contains Books
I-IX, xxvi, 8. It was written in the ninth century, at Corvey, whence it was brought to Rome at the beginning
of the sixteenth century. It is part of a volume that also once contained our only manuscript of the first part of
the Annals of Tacitus.24 The other chief manuscript of this class is V (Vaticanus Latinus 3864), which has
Books I-IV. The script has been variously estimated. I am inclined to the opinion that the book was written
somewhere near Tours, perhaps Fleury, in the earlier part of the ninth century.25 If Ullman is right in seeing a
reference to PlinyâΠ–s Letters in a notice in a mediaeval catalogue of Corbie,26 it may be that the codex is a
Corbeiensis. But it is also possible that a volume of the Letters at Corbie was twice copied, once at Corvey
(M) and once in the neighborhood of Tours (V). At any rate, with the help of V, we may reach farther back
than Corvey and Germany for the origin of this class. There are likewise two fragmentary texts, both of brief
extent, Monacensis 14641 (olim Emmeramensis) saec. IX, and Leidensis Vossianus 98 saec. IX, the latter
partly in Tironian notes. Merrill regards these as bearing âΠ–testimony to the existence of the nine-book text in
the same geographical region,âΠ– namely Germany.27 There they are to-day, in Germany and Holland, but
where they were written is another affair. The Munich fragment is part of a composite 46 volume of which it
occupies only a page or two. The script is continental, and may well be that of Regensburg, but it shows
marked traces of insular influence, English rather than Irish in character. The work immediately preceding the
fragment is in an insular hand, of the kind practised at various continental monasteries, such as Fulda; there
are certain notes in the usual continental hand. Evidently the manuscript deserves consideration in the history
of the struggle between the insular and the continental hands in Germany.28 The script of the Leyden
fragment, on the other hand, so far as I can judge from a photograph, looks very much like the mid-century
Fleury variety with which I have associated the Bellovacensis; there can hardly be doubt, at any rate, that De
Vries is correct in assigning it to France, where Voss obtained so many of his manuscripts.29 Except,
therefore, for M and the Munich fragment, there is no evidence furnished by the chief manuscripts which
connects the tradition of the Letters with Germany. The insular clue afforded by the latter book deserves
further attention, but I can not follow it here. The question of the Parisinus aside, B and F of Class I and V of
Class II are sure signs that the propagation of the text started from one or more centres—Fleury and
Corbie seem the most probable—in France.

The third class comprises manuscripts containing eight books, the eighth being omitted and the ninth called
the eighth. Representatives of this class are all codices of the fifteenth century, though the class has a more
ancient basis than that, namely a lost manuscript of Verona. This is best attested by D, a Dresden codex, while
almost all other manuscripts of this class descend from a free recension made by Guarino and conflated with
F; o, u, and x are the representatives of this recension (G) that are reported by Merrill. The relation of this
third class to the second is exceedingly close; indeed, it may be merely a branch of it.30

The early editions As is often the case, the leading manuscript authorities are only inadequately
represented in the early editions. The Editio Princeps (p) of 1471 was based on 47 a manuscript of the
Guarino recension. A Roman editor in 1474 added part of Book VIII, putting it at the end and calling it Book
IX; he acquired this new material, along with various readings in the other books, from some manuscript of
Class II that may have come down from the north. Three editors, called Ï– by Keil—Pomponius Laetus
1490, Beroaldus 1498, and Catanaeus 1506—took r as a basis; but Laetus had another and a better
representative of the same type of text as that from which r had drawn, and he likewise made use of V. With

RELATION OF THE MORGAN FRAGMENT TO THE OTHER MANUSCRIPTS OF THE LETTERS. 41


Pliny Letters, Fragment

the help of these new sources the Ï– editors polished away a large number of the gross blunders of p and r, and
added a sometimes unnecessary brilliance of emendation. AvantiusâΠ–s edition of part of Book X in 1502 was
appropriated by Beroaldus in the same year and by Catanaeus in 1506; these latter editors had no new sources
at their disposal. No wonder that the Parisinus seemed a godsend to Aldus. The only known ancient
manuscripts whose readings had been utilized in the editions preceding his own were F and V, both
incomplete representatives of Classes I and II. The manuscripts discovered by the Roman editor and Laetus
were of great help at the time, but we have no certain evidence of their age. B and M were not accessible.31
Now, besides the transcript of Giocondo and his other six volumes, whatever these may have been, Aldus had
the ancient codex itself with all ten books complete. Everybody admits that the Parisinus, as shown by the
readings of Aldus, is clearly associated with the manuscripts of Class I. Its contents corroborate the evidence
of the title in B, which indicates descent from some codex containing ten books.

Î a member of Class I Now nothing is plainer than that Î is a member of Class I, as it agrees with BF in
the following errors, or what are regarded by Keil as errors. I consider the text of the Letters and not their
superscriptions. 60, 15 duplicia] MVD duplicata Î BFGa; 61, 12 confusa adhuc] MV adhuc confusa Î BFGa;
62, 6 doctissime] MV doctissima Î BFDa et doctissima G; 62, 16 nec adficitur] MVD et adficitur Î BFGa; 62,
23 quorum] MVDGa qui horum Î BF; 63, 22 teque et] MVDG teque Î BFa; 64, 3 proferenda] Doxa conferenda
BFu conferanda Î (MV lack an extensive passage here); 65, 11 alii quidam minores sed tamen numeri] DG alii
quidam minores sed tam innumeri MV alii quidem minoris sed tamen numeri Î BFa; 65, 12 voluntariis
accusationibus] M (uoluntaris) D voluntariis om. V accusationibus uoluntariis Î BFGa; 65, 15 superiore] MVD
priore Î BFGa; 65, 24 iam] MVDG om. Î BFa.

Tastes differ, and not all these eleven readings of Class I may be errors. Kukula, in the most recent Teubner
edition (1912), accepts three of them (60, 15; 62, 6; 65, 15), and Merrill, in his forthcoming edition, five (60,
15; 61, 12; 62, 6; 48 65, 12; 65, 15). Personally I could be reconciled to them all with the exception of the
very two which Aldus could not admit—62, 23 and 64, 3; in both places he had the early editions to fall
back on. However, I should concur with Merrill and Kukula in preferring the reading of the other classes in
62, 16 and 65, 24. In 65, 11 I would emend to alii quidam minoris sed tamen numeri; if this is the right
reading, Î BF agree in the easy error of quidem for quidam, and MVD in another easy error, minores for
minoris—the parent manuscript of MV further changed tamen numeri to tam innumeri. Whatever the
final judgment, here are five cases in which all recent editors would attribute error to Class I; in the remaining
six cases the manuscripts of Class I either agree in error or avoid the error of Class II—surely, then, Î
is not of the latter class. There are six other significant errors of MV in the whole passage, no one of which
appears in Î : 61, 15 si non] sint MV; 62, 6 mira illis] mirabilis MV; 62, 11 lotus] illic MV; cibum] cibos MV;
62, 25 fuit—64, 12 potes] om. MV; 66, 12 amatus] est amatus MV. Once the first hand in Î agrees with
V in an error easily committed independently: 61, 12 ordinata] ordinata, di ss. m. 2 Î ornata V.

Î , then, and MV have descended from the archetype by different routes. With Class III, the Verona branch of
Class II, Î clearly has no close association.

But the evidence for allying Î with B and F, the manuscripts of Class I, is by no means exhausted. In 61, 14,
BFux have the erroneous emendation, which Budaeus includes among his variants, of serua for sera. A glance
at Î shows its apparent origin. The first hand has sera correctly; the second hand writes u above the line.32 If
the second hand is solely responsible for the attempt at improvement here, and is not reproducing a variant in
the parent manuscript of Î , then BF must descend directly from Î . The following instances point in the same
direction: 61, 21 considit] considet BF. Î has considit by the first hand, the second hand changing the second i
to a capital e.33 In 65, 5, however, residit is not thus changed in Î , and perhaps for this very reason is retained
by the careful scribe of B; F, which has a slight tendency to emend, has, with G, residet. 63, 9 praestat amat
me] praestatam ad me B. Here the letters of the scriptura continua in Î are faded and blurred; the error of B
would therefore be peculiarly easy if this manuscript derived directly from Î . If one ask whether the page
were as faded in the ninth century as now, Dr. Lowe has already answered this question; the flesh side of the

RELATION OF THE MORGAN FRAGMENT TO THE OTHER MANUSCRIPTS OF THE LETTERS. 42


Pliny Letters, Fragment

parchment might well have lost a portion of its ink considerably before the Carolingian period.34 In any case,
the error of praestatam ad me seems natural enough to one who reads the line for the first time in Î . B did not,
as we shall see, copy directly from Î ; a copy intervened, in which the error was made and then, I should infer,
corrected above the line, whence F drew the right reading, B taking the original but incorrect text.

49 There are cases in plenty elsewhere in the Letters to show that B is not many removes from the scriptura
continua of some majuscule hand. In the section included in Î , apart from the general tightness of the writing,
which led to the later insertion of strokes between many of the words,35 we note these special indications of a
parent manuscript in majuscules. In 61, 10 me autem], B started to write mea and then corrected it. 64, 19
praeceptori a quo] praeceptoria quo B, (m. 1) F. If B or its parent manuscript copied Î directly, the mistake
would be especially easy, for praeceptoria ends the line in Î . 64, 25 integra re]. After integra, a letter is erased
in B; the copyist, it would seem, first mistook integra re for one word.

Other instances showing a close connection between B and Î are as follows: 62, 23 unice] Î has by the first
hand inuice, the second hand writing u above i, and a vertical stroke above u. In BF, uince, the reading of the
first hand, is changed by the second to unice; this second hand, Professor Merrill informs me, seems to be that
of a writer in the same scriptorium as the first. The error in BF might, of course, be due to copying an original
in minuscules, but it might also be due to the curious state of affairs in Î . 65, 24 fungerer]. In Î the final r is
written, somewhat indistinctly, above the line. B has fungerer corrected by the second hand from fungeret (?),
which may be due to a misunderstanding of Î . 66, 2 avunculi] auonculi Î (o in ras.) B. This form might
perhaps be read; F has emended it out, and no other manuscript has it. 65, 7 desino, inquam, patres conscripti,
putare]. Here the relation of BF to Î seems particularly close. Î , like MVDoxa, has the abbreviation p.c. On a
clearly written page, the error of reputare (BF) for p.c. putare is not a specially likely one to make. But in the
blur at the bottom of fol. 52v, a page on the flesh side of the parchment, the combination might readily be
mistaken for reputare.

Another curious bit of testimony appears at the beginning of the third book. The scribe of B36 wrote the words
nescio—apud in rustic capitals, occupying therewith the first line and about a third of the second. This
is not effective calligraphy. It would appear that he is reproducing, as is his habit, exactly what he found in his
original. That original might have had one full line, or two lines, of majuscules, perhaps, following pretty
closely the lines in Î , which has the same amount of text, plus the first three letters of spurinnam, in the first
two lines. If B had Î before him, there is nothing to explain his most unusual procedure. His original,
therefore, is not Î but an intervening copy, which he is transcribing with an utter indifference to aesthetic
effect and with a laudable, if painful, desire for accuracy. This trait, obvious in BâΠ–s work throughout, is
perhaps nowhere more strikingly exhibited than here.

50

Î the direct ancestor of BF with probably a copy intervening If Î is the direct ancestor of BF, these
manuscripts should contain no good readings not found in Î , unless their writers could arrive at such readings
by easy emendation or unless there is contamination with some other source. From what we know of the text
of BF in general, the latter supposition may at once be ruled out. There are but three cases to consider, two of
which may be readily disposed of: 64, 3 proferenda] conferenda BF conferanda Î ; 64, 4 conprobasse] (comp.)
BF comprouasse Î . These are simple slips, which a scribe might almost unconsciously correct as he wrote.
The remaining error (63, 28 sibi to si) is not difficult to emend when one considers the entire sentence: quibus
omnibus ita demum similis adolescet, si imbutus honestis artibus fuerit, quas, etc. It is less probable, however,
that B with Î before him should correct it as he wrote than, as we have already surmised, that a minuscule
copy intervened between Î and B, in which the letters bi were deleted by some careful reviser. Two other
passages tend to confirm this assumption of an intermediate copy. In 65, 6 (tum optime libertati venia
obsequio praeparatur), B has optimae, a false alteration induced perhaps by the following libertati. In Î ,
optime stands at the end of the line. The scribe of B, had he not found libertati immediately adjacent, would

RELATION OF THE MORGAN FRAGMENT TO THE OTHER MANUSCRIPTS OF THE LETTERS. 43


Pliny Letters, Fragment

not so readily be tempted to emend; still, we should not make too much of this instance, as B has a rather
pronounced tendency to write ae for e. A more certain case is 66, 7 fungar indicis] fungarindicis ex fungari
dicis B; here the error is easier to derive from an original in minuscules in which in was abbreviated with a
stroke above the i. There is abundant evidence elsewhere in the Letters that the immediate ancestor of BF was
written in minuscules; I need not elaborate this point. Our present consideration is that apart from the three
instances of simple emendation just discussed, there is no good reading of B or F in the portion of text
contained in Î that may not be found, by either the first or the second hand, in Î .37

We may now examine a most important bit of testimony to the close connection existing between BF and Î . B
alone of all manuscripts hitherto known is provided with indices of the Letters, one for each book, which give
the names of the correspondents and the opening words of each letter. Now Î , by good luck, preserves the end
of Book II, the beginning of Book III, and between them the index for Book III. Dr. F. E. Robbins, in a careful
article on B and F, and one 51 on the tables of contents in B,38 concluded that P did not contain the indices
which are preserved in B, and that these were compiled in some ancestor of B, perhaps in the eighth century.
Here they are, in the Morgan fragment, which takes us back two centuries farther into the past. A comparison
of the index in Î shows indubitably a close kinship with B. A glance at plates XIII and XIV indicates, first of
all, that the copy B, here as in the text of the Letters, is not many removes from scriptura continua. Moreover,
the lists are drawn up on the same principle; the nomen and cognomen but not the praenomen of the
correspondent being given, and exactly the same amount of text quoted at the beginning of each letter. The
incipit of III, xvi (ad nepotem—adnotasse uideor fatadictaq·) is an addition in Î , and the lemma is
longer than usual, as though the original title had been omitted in the manuscript which Î was copying and the
corrector of Î had substituted a title of his own making.39 It reappears in B, with the easy emendation of facta
from fata. The only other case in the indices of a right reading in B that is not in Î is in the title of III, viii: ad
sueton tranque Î Adsu&on tranqui. B. In both these instances the scribe of B needed no external help in
correcting the simple error. Far more significant is the coincidence of B and Î in very curious mistakes, as the
address of III, iii (ad caerelliae hispullae for ad corelliam hispullam) and the lemma of III, viii (facis
adprocetera for facis pro cetera). Î BF agree in omitting suae (III, iii) and suo (III, iv), but in retaining the
pronominal adjectives in the other addresses preserved in Î . The same unusual suspensions occur in Î and B,
as ad sueton tranque (tranqui B); ad uestric spurinn·; ad silium procul.40 In the first of these cases, the parent
of Î evidently had tranq·, which Î falsely enlarges to tranque; this form and not tranq· is the basis of BâΠ–s
correction—a semi-successful correction—tranqui. This, then, is another sign that B depends
directly on Î . Further, B omits one symbol of abbreviation which Î has (possum iam perscri{-b}), the lemma
of the ninth letter), and in the lemma of the tenth neither manuscript preserves the symbol (composuisse me
quaed). In the first of these cases, it will be observed, B has a very long i in perscrib.41 This long i is not a
feature of the script of B, nor is there any provocation for it in the way in which the word is written in Î . This
detail, therefore, may be added to the indications that a copy in minuscules intervened between B and Î ; the
curious i, faithfully reproduced, as usual, by B, may have occurred in such a copy.

These details prove an intimate relation between Î and BF, and fit the supposition that B and F are direct
descendants of Î . This may be strengthened 52 by another consideration. If Î and B independently copy the
same source, they inevitably make independent errors, however careful their work. Î should contain, then, a
certain number of errors not in B. As we have found only three such cases in 12 pages, or 324 lines, and as in
all these three the right reading in B could readily have been due to emendation on the part of the scribe of B
or of a copy between Î and B, we have acquired negative evidence of an impressive kind. It is distinctly
harder to believe that the two texts derive independently from a common source. Show us the significant
errors of Î not in B, and we will accept the existence of that common source; otherwise the appropriate
supposition is that B descends directly from its elder relative Î . It is not necessary to prove by an examination
of readings that Î is not copied from B; the dates of the two scripts settle that matter at the start. Supposing,
however, for the moment, that Î and B were of the same age, we could readily prove that the former is not
copied from the latter. For B contains a significant collection of errors which are not present in Î . Six slight
mistakes were made by the first hand and corrected by it, three more were corrected by the second hand, and

RELATION OF THE MORGAN FRAGMENT TO THE OTHER MANUSCRIPTS OF THE LETTERS. 44


Pliny Letters, Fragment

twelve were left uncorrected. Some of these are trivial slips that a scribe copying B might emend on his own
initiative, or perhaps by a lucky mistake. Such are 64, 26 iudicium] indicium B; 64, 29 Caecili] caecilii B; 65,
13 neglegere] neglere B. But intelligent pondering must precede the emendation of praeceptoria quo into
praeceptori a quo (64, 19), of beaticis into Baeticis (65, 15), and of optimae into optime (65, 26), while it
would take a Madvig to remedy the corruptions in 63, 9 (praestatam ad me) and 65,7 (reputare into patres
conscripti putare). These are the sort of errors which if found in Î would furnish incontrovertible proof that a
manuscript not containing them was independent of Î ; but there is no such evidence of independence in the
case of B. Our case is strengthened by the consideration that various of the errors in B may well be traced to
idiosyncrasies of Î , not merely to its scriptura continua, a source of misunderstanding that any majuscule
would present, but to the fading of the writing on the flesh side of the pages in Î , and to the possibility that
some of the corrections of the second hand may be the private inventions of that hand.42 We are hampered, of
course, by the comparatively small amount of matter in Î , nor are we absolutely certain that this is
characteristic of the entire manuscript of which it was once a part. But my reasoning is correct, I believe, for
the material at our disposal.

53

The probable stemma Our tentative stemma thus far, then, is No. 1 below, not No. 2 and not No. 3.

Robbins put P in the position of Î in this last stemma, but on the assumption that it did not contain the indices.
That is not true of Î .

Further consideration of the external history of P, Î , and B Still further evidence is supplied by the
external history of our manuscripts. B was at Beauvais at the end of the twelfth or the beginning of the
thirteenth century, as we have seen.43 Whatever the uncertainties as to its origin, any palaeographer would
agree that it could hardly have been written before the middle of the ninth century or after the middle of the
tenth. It was undoubtedly produced in France, as was F, its sister manuscript. The presumption is that Î 1, the
copy intervening between Î and B, was also French, and that Î was in France when the copy was made from
it. Merrill, for what reason I fail to see, suggested that the original of BF might be âΠ–Lombardic,âΠ– written in
North Italy.44 An extraneous origin of this sort must be proved from the character of the errors, such as
spellings and the false resolution of abbreviations, made by BF. If no such signs can be adduced, it is natural
to suppose that Î 1 was of the same nationality and general tendencies as its copies B and F. This consideration
helps out the possible evidence furnished by the scribbling in a hand of the Carolingian variety on fol. 53v;45
we may now be more confident that it is French rather than Italian. But whatever the history of our book in the
early Middle Ages, in the fifteenth century it was surely near Meaux, which is not far from
Paris—about as far to the east as Beauvais is to the north. Now, granted for a moment that the last of
our stemmata is correct, X, from which Î and B descend, being earlier than Î , must have been a manuscript in
majuscules, written in Italy, since that is unquestionably the provenience of Î . There were, then, by this
supposition, two ancient majuscule manuscripts of the Letters, most closely related in text—veritable

RELATION OF THE MORGAN FRAGMENT TO THE OTHER MANUSCRIPTS OF THE LETTERS. 45


Pliny Letters, Fragment

twins, indeed—that travelled from Italy to France. One (X1) had arrived in the early Middle Ages and
is the parent of 54 B and F; the other (Î ) was probably there in the early Middle Ages, and surely was there in
the fifteenth century. We can not deny this possibility, but, on the principle melius est per unum fieri quam
per plura, we must not adopt it unless driven to it. The history of the transmission of Classical texts in the
Carolingian period is against such a supposition.46 Not many books of the age and quality of Î were floating
about in France in the ninth century. There is nothing in the evidence presented by Î and B that drives us to
assume the presence of two such codices. There is nothing in this evidence that does not fit the simpler
supposition that BF descend directly from Î . The burden of proof would appear to rest on those who assert the
contrary. Î , therefore, if the ancestor of B, contained at least as much as we find today in B. Some ancestor of
B had all ten books. Aldus, whose text is closely related to BF, got all ten books from a very ancient
manuscript that came down from Paris. Our simpler stemma indicates the presence of one rather than more
than one such manuscript in the vicinity of Paris in the ninth or the tenth century and again in the fifteenth.
This line of argument, which presents not a mathematically absolute demonstration but at least a highly
probable concatenation of facts and deductions, warrants the assumption, to be used at any rate as a working
hypothesis, that Î is a fragment of the lost Parisinus which contained all the books of PlinyâΠ–s Letters.

Our stemma, then, becomes,

P (the whole manuscript), of which Î is a part.

Evidence from the portions of BF outside the text of Î We may corroborate this reasoning by
evidence drawn from the portions of BF outside the text of Î . We note, above all, a number of omissions in
BF that indicate the length of line in some manuscript from which they descend. This length of line is
precisely what we find in Î . Our fragment has lines containing from 23 to 33 letters, very rarely 23, 24, or 33,
and most frequently from 27 to 30, the average being 28.4. These figures tally closely with those given by
Professor A. C. Clark47 for the Vindobonensis of Livy, a codex not far removed in 55 date from Î . Supposing
that Î is a typical section of P—and after Professor ClarkâΠ–s studies48 we may more confidently
assume that it is—P had the same length of line. The important cases of omission are as follows:

32, 19 atque etiam invisus virtutibus fuerat evasit, reliquit incolumen optimum atque] etiam—atque om.
BF. P would have the abbreviation for bus in virtutibus and for que in atque. There would thus be in all 61
letters and dots, or two lines, arranged about as follows:

ATQ·
ETIAMINUISUSUIRTUTIB·FUERATEUA (30)
SITRELIQUITINCOLUMEMOPTIMUMATQ· (31)
The scribe could easily catch at the second ATQ· after writing the first. It will be at once objected that the
repeated ATQ· might have occasioned the mistake, whatever the length of the line. Thus in 82, 2 (aegrotabat
Caecina Paetus, maritus eius, aegrotabat] Caecina—aegrotabat om. BF), the omitted portion comprises
34 letters—a bit too long, perhaps, for a line of P. The following instances, however, can not be thus
disposed of.

RELATION OF THE MORGAN FRAGMENT TO THE OTHER MANUSCRIPTS OF THE LETTERS. 46


Pliny Letters, Fragment

94, 10 alia quamquam dignitate propemodum paria] quamquam—paria (32 letters) om. BF. Cetera and
paria, to be sure, offer a mild case of homoioteleuta, but not powerful enough to occasion an omission unless
the words happened to stand at the ends of lines, as they might well have done in P. As the line occurs near
the beginning of a letter, we may verify our conjecture by plotting the opening lines. The address, as in Î ,
would occupy a line. Then, allowing for contractions in rebus (18) and quoque (19) and reading cum (Class I)
for quod (18), cetera (Class I) for alia (20), we can arrange the 236 letters in 8 lines, with an average of 29.5
letters in a line.

123, 10 sentiebant. interrogati a Nepote praetore quem docuissent, responderunt quem prius: interrogati an
tunc gratis adfuisset, responderunt sex milibus] interrogati a Nepote—docuissent responderunt om. BF.
Here are two good chances for omissions due to similar endings, as interrogati and responderunt are both
repeated, but neither chance is taken by BF. Instead, a far less striking case (sentiebant—responderunt)
leads to the omission. The arrangement in P might be

SENTIEBANT
INTERROGATIANEPOTEPRAETORE (26)
QUEMDOCUISSENTRESPONDERUNT (26)
QUEMPRIUSINTERROGATIANTUNCGRA (29)
TISADFUISSETRESPONDERUNTSEXMI (29)
Here the dangerous words interrogati and responderunt are in safe places.

56 sentiebant and responderunt, ordinarily a safe enough pair, become dangerous by their position at the end
of lines; indeed, in the scriptura continua the danger of confusing homoioteleuta, unless these stand at the end
of lines, is distinctly less than in a script in which the words are divided. Here again, as in 94, 10, we may
reckon the lengths of the opening lines of the letter. After the line occupied with the addresses, we have 296
letters, or ten lines with an average of 29.6 letters apiece.

We may add two omissions of F in passages now missing altogether in B. 69, 28 quod minorem ex liberis
duobus amisit sed maiorem] minorem—sed om. F. Here again an omission is imminent from the
similar endings minorem—maiorem; that made by F (29 letters and one dot) seems to be that of a line
of P where the arrangement would be:

QUOD
MINOREMEXLIBERISDUOB·AMISITSED
MAIOREM
There may have been a copy (P2) intervening between P1 and F, but doubtless neither that nor P1 itself had
lines so short as those in P; the error of F, therefore, may be most naturally ascribed to P1, who omitted a line
of P.

130, 16 percolui. in summa (cur enim non aperiam tibi vel iudicium meum vel errorem?) primum ego] in
summa—primum (59 letters) om. F. As there are no homoioteleuta here at all, we surely are concerned
with the omission of a line or lines. Perhaps 59 letters would make up a line in P1 or P2. Perhaps two lines of
P were dropped.

Similarly we may note two omissions in B, though not in F, which may be due originally to the error of P1 in
copying P.

68, 5 electorumque commentarios centum sexaginta mihi reliquit, opisthographos]


-torumque—opisthographos om. B. Allowing the abbreviation of que, we have 59 letters and one dot
here. The omitted words are written by the first hand of B at the foot of the page. Of course the omission may

RELATION OF THE MORGAN FRAGMENT TO THE OTHER MANUSCRIPTS OF THE LETTERS. 47


Pliny Letters, Fragment

correspond to a line of P1 dropped by B in copying, but it is equally possible that P1 committed the error and
corrected it by the marginal supplement, F noting the correction in time to include the omitted words in his
text, B copying them in the margin as he found them in P1.

87, 12 tacitus suffragiis impudentia inrepat. nam quoto cuique eadem honestatis] suffragiis—honestatis
om. m. 1, add. in mg. m. 2 B (54 letters, with que abbreviated). This may be like the preceding, except that the
correction was done not by the original scribe of B, but by a scribe in the same monastery. The presence of
homoioteleuta, we must admit, adds an element of uncertainty.

So, of the passages here brought forward, 94, 20; 123, 10 and 69, 28 are best explained by supposing that B
and F descend from a manuscript that like Î had 57 from 24 to 32 letters in a line, while 32, 19 and 130, 16 fit
this supposition as well as they do any other.

One orthographic peculiarity is perhaps worth noting: we saw that B did not agree with Î in the spellings karet
and karitas.49 We do, however, find karitate elsewhere in B (109, 8), and the curious reading Klâ–´facere,
mg. calfacere, for calfacere (56, 12). This is an additional bit of evidence for supposing that a copy (P1)
intervened between P and B; P had the spelling Karitas consistently, P1 altered it to the usual form, and B
reproduced the corrections in P1, failing to take them all, unless, as may well be, P1 had failed to correct all
the cases.

Thus the evidence contained in the portion of BF outside the text of Î corroborates our working hypothesis
deduced from the fragment itself. We have found nothing yet to overthrow our surmise that a bit of the ancient
Parisinus is veritably in the city of New York.

58

EDITORIAL METHODS OF ALDUS.

AldusâΠ–s methods; his basic text W E may now return to Aldus and imagine, if we can, his
method of critical procedure. Finding his agreement with Î so close, even in what editors before and after him
have regarded as errors, I am disposed to think that he studied his Parisinus with care and followed its
authority respectfully. Finding that his seemingly extravagant statements about the antiquity of his book are
essentially true, I am disposed to put more confidence in Aldus than editors have granted him thus far. I
should suppose that, working in the most convenient way, he turned over to his compositor, not a fresh copy
of P, but the pages of some edition corrected from P—which Aldus surely tells us that he
used—and from whatever other sources he consulted. It may be beyond our powers to discover the
precise edition that he thus employed. It does not at first thought seem likely that he would select the Princeps,
which does not include the eighth book at all, and contains errors that later were weeded out. In the portion of
text included in Î , P has thirty-two readings which Aldus avoids. In most of these cases p commits an error,
sometimes a ridiculous error, like offam for officia (62, 25); the manuscript on which p was based apparently
made free use of abbreviations. KeilâΠ–s damning estimate of r50 is amply borne out in this section of the text;
Aldus differs from r in sixty-five cases, most of these being errors in r. He agrees with Ï– in all but twenty-six
readings.51 Aldus would have had fewest changes to make, then, if his basic text was Ï–. This is apparently
the view of Keil,52 who would agree at any rate that Aldus made special use of the Ï– editions and who also
declares that p is the fundamentum of r as r is of the edition of Pomponius Laetus.53

It would certainly be natural for Aldus to start with his immediate predecessors, as they had started with
theirs. The matter ought to be cleared up, if possible, for in order to determine what Aldus found in P we must

EDITORIAL METHODS OF ALDUS. 48


Pliny Letters, Fragment

know whether he took some text as a point of departure and, if so, what that text was. But the task should be
undertaken by some one to whom the early editions are accessible. KeilâΠ–s report of them, intentionally
incomplete,54 is sufficient, he declares,55 âΠ–ad fidem Aldinae editionis constituendam,âΠ– but, as I have found
by comparing our photographs of the edition of Beroaldus in the present section, Keil has not collated
minutely or accurately enough to encourage us to undertake, on the basis of his apparatus, an elaborate study
of AldusâΠ–s relation to the editions preceding his own.

59 The variants of Budaeus in the Bodleian volume We may now test Aldus by the evidence of the
Bodleian volume with its variants in the hand of Budaeus. For the section included in Î , their number is
disappointingly small. The only additions by Budaeus (= i) to the text of Beroaldus are: 61, 14 sera] MVDoa,
(m. 1) Î serua BFuxi, (m. 2) Î ; 62, 4 ambulat] i cum plerisque ambulabat r Ber. (ab del.) M; 62, 25 quoque] i
cum ceteris pÌ·ouq (ue) Ber.; 64, 23 Quamvis] q Vmuis Ber. corr. i.

This is all. Budaeus, who, according to Merrill, had the Parisinus at his disposal, has corrected two obvious
misprints, made an inevitable change in the tense of a verb—with or without the help of the ancient
book—and introduced from that book one unfortunate reading which we find in the second hand of Î .

There is one feature of BudaeusâΠ–s marginal jottings that at once arouses the curiosity of the textual critic,
namely, the frequent appearance of the obelus and the obelus cum puncto. These signs as used by Probus56
would denote respectively a surely spurious and a possibly spurious line or portion of text. But such was not
the usage of Budaeus; he employed the obelus merely to call attention to something that interested him. Thus
at the end of the first letter of Book III we find a doubly pointed obelus opposite an interesting passage, the
text of which shows no variants or editorial questionings. Budaeus appears to have expressed his grades of
interest rather elaborately—at least I can discover no other purpose for the different signs employed.
The simple obelus apparently denotes interest, the pointed obelus great interest, the doubly pointed obelus
intense interest, and the pointing finger of a carefully drawn hand burning interest. He also adds catchwords.
Thus on the first letter he calls attention successively57 to Ambulatio, Gestatio, Hora balnei, pilae ludus,
Coena, and Comoedi. The purpose of the doubly pointed obelus is plainly indicated here, as it accompanies
two of these catchwords. Just so in the margin opposite 65, 17, a pointing finger is accompanied by the
remark, âΠ–Beneficia beneficiis aliis cumulanda,âΠ– while 227, 5 is decorated with the moral ejaculation, âΠ–o
hominem in diuitiis miserum.âΠ– Incidentally, it is obvious that the Morgan fragment was once perused by
some thoughtful reader, who marked with lines or brackets passages of special interest to him. For example,
the account of how Spurinna spent his day58 is so marked. This passage likewise called forth various marginal
notes from Budaeus,59 and other coincidences exist between the markings in Î and the marginalia in the
Bodleian volume. But there is not enough evidence of this sort to warrant the suggestion that Budaeus himself
added the marks in Î .

Aldus and Budaeus compared It is of some importance to consider what Budaeus might have done to the
text of Beroaldus had he treated it to a systematic collation with the Parisinus. Our fragment allows us to test
Budaeus; for even if it be not the Parisinus itself, 60 its readings with the help of B, F, and Aldus show what
was in that ancient book. I have enumerated above60 eleven readings of Î BF which are called errors by Keil,
but of which nine were accepted by Aldus and five by the latest editor, Professor Merrill. In two of these (62,
33 and 64, 3), Budaeus, like Aldus, wisely does not harbor an obvious error of P. In two more (62, 16 and 65,
12), Beroaldus already has the reading of P. Of the remaining seven, however, all of which Aldus adopted,
there is no trace in Budaeus. There are also nineteen cases of obvious error in the Ï– editions, which Aldus
corrected but Budaeus did not touch. I give the complete apparatus61 for these twenty-six places, as they will
illustrate the radical difference between Aldus and Budaeus in their use of the Parisinus.

60, 15 duplicia] MVDrÏ–


duplicata Î BFGpa

EDITORIAL METHODS OF ALDUS. 49


Pliny Letters, Fragment

61, 12 confusa adhuc] MVÏ–


adhuc confusa Î BFGpra
18 milia passuum tria nec] Î BFMV(p?)a
milia passum tria et nec D
mille pastria nec r
mille pas. nec Ï–
62, 6 doctissime] MVÏ–
et doctissime r
doctissima Î BFDa
et doctissima p
26 igitur eundem mihi cursum, eundem] Î BFD(p?)a
igitur et eundem mihi cursum et eundem rÏ–
fuit (25)—potes (64, 12) om. MV
63, 2 maximo] Î BFDG(pr?)a
Valerio Max. Ï–
Gauio Maximo Catanaeus
4 Arrianus Maturus] Î BFDra
arianus maturus Gp
Arrianus Maturius Ï–
5 est] Î BFDG(p?)a
om. r Ber.
9 ardentibus dicere] Î BFDG(r?)a
dicere ardentius pÏ–
12 excolendusque] Î BFD(p?)a
extollendusque GrÏ–
15 conferas in eum] Î BFD(p?)a
in eum conferas GrÏ–
17 excipit] Î BFD(p?)a
accipit rÏ–
quam si] Î BFDG(p?)a
quasi si r
quasi Laet., Ber.
20 corelliae hispullae suae]
corelliae Î B
ad caerelliae hispullae ind. Î B
corellie ispullae F
corelliae hispullae a
corneliae (Coreliae Catanaeus) hispullae (suae add. Do) DGprÏ–
22 teque et] DG(p?)[sigma]
teque Î BFra
23 et in] Î BFDG(p?)a
et rÏ–
diligam, cupiam necesse est atque etiam] Î BFDG(p?)a
diligam et cupiam necesse est etiam r

EDITORIAL METHODS OF ALDUS. 50


Pliny Letters, Fragment

diligam atque etiam cupiam nececesse (sic) est etiam Ber.


64, 2 erroribus modica vel etiam nulla] BFDG(p?)a
(ex errorib·modicaestetiamnulla m. 2)Î
erroribus uel modica uel nulla r
erroribus modica uel nulla Ber.
uel erroribus modica uel etiam nulla vulgo
5 fortunaeque] Î BFDG(p?)a
form(a)eque r Ber.
65, 11 alii quidem minores sed tamen numeri] (ali D) DGp
alii quidem minoris sed tamen numeri Î BFa
alii quidam (quidem Catanaeus) minores sed tam (tamen rÏ–)
innumeri MVrÏ–
61 15 superiore] MVDÏ–
priore Î BFGra
prior p
24 iam] MVDG(pr?)Ï–
om. Î BFa
66, 7 sint omnes] Î BFMVDG(pr?)a
sint Ï–
9 haec quoque] Î BFDVGra
hoc quoque M
hic quoque p
haec Ï–
11 Pomponi] Î BMVo
Pomponii FDpra
Q. Pomponii Ï–
12 amatus] Î FDG(pr?)a
est amatus MVÏ–
amatus est corr. m. 1 B
Here is sufficient material for a test. Aldus, it will be observed, whether or not he started with some special
edition, refuses to follow the latest and best texts of his day (i.e., Ï–) in these twenty-six readings. In one sure
case (60, 15) and eleven possible62 cases (61, 18; 62, 26; 63, 5, 12, 15, 17 bis, 23 bis; 64, 2, 5), his reading
agrees with the Princeps. In four sure cases (63, 4, 22; 65, 15; 66, 9) and one possible one (63, 9), he agrees
with the Roman edition; in two sure (61, 12; 66, 11) and three possible (63, 2; 66, 7, 12) cases, with both p
and r. Once he breaks away from all editions reported by Keil and agrees with D (62, 6). At the same time, all
these readings are attested by Î FB and hence were presumably in the Parisinus. In two cases (65, 11, 24), we
know of no source other than P that could have furnished him his reading. Further, in the superscription of the
third letter of Book III (63, 20), he might have taken a hint from Catanaeus, who was the first to depart from
the reading corneliae, universally accepted before him, but again it is only P that could give him the correct
spelling corelliae.63

If all the above readings, then, were in the Parisinus, how did Aldus arrive at them? Did he fish round, now in
the Princeps, now in the Roman edition, despite the repellent errors that those texts contained,64 and extract
with felicitous accuracy excellent readings that coincided with those of the Parisinus, or did he draw them
straight from that source itself? The crucial cases are 65, 11 and 24. As he must have gone to the Parisinus for
these readings, he presumably found the others there, too. Moreover, he did not get his new variants by a

EDITORIAL METHODS OF ALDUS. 51


Pliny Letters, Fragment

merely sporadic consultation of the ancient book when he was dissatisfied with the accepted text of his day,
for in the two crucial cases and many of the others, too, that text makes sense; some of the readings, indeed,
are accepted by modern editors as correct.65 Aldus was collating. He carefully noted minutiae, such as the
omission of et and iam, and accepted what he found, unless the ancient text seemed to him indisputably
wrong. He gave it the benefit of the doubt even when it may be wrong. This is the method of a scrupulous
editor who cherishes a proper veneration for his oldest and best authority.

Budaeus, on the other hand, is not an editor. He is a vastly interested reader 62 of Pliny, frequently
commenting on the subject-matter or calling attention to it by marginal signs. As for the text, he generally
finds Beroaldus good enough. He corrects misprints, makes a conjecture now and then, or adopts one of
Catanaeus, and, besides supplementing the missing portions with transcripts made for him from the Parisinus,
inserts numerous variants, some of which indubitably come from that manuscript.66 In the present section,
occupying 251 lines in Î , there is only one reading of the Parisinus—a false reading, it
happens—that seems to Budaeus worth recording. Compared with what Aldus gleaned from Î ,
BudaeusâΠ–s extracts are insignificant. It is remarkable, for instance, that on a passage (65, 11) which, as the
appended obelus shows, he must have read with attention, he has not added the very different reading of the
Parisinus. Either, then, Budaeus did not consult the Parisinus with care, or he did not think the great majority
of its readings preferable to the text of Beroaldus, or, as I think may well have been the case, he had neither
the manuscript itself nor an entire copy of it accessible at the time when he added his variants in his combined
edition of Beroaldus and Avantius.67

But I do not mean to present here a final estimate of Budaeus; for that, I hope, we may look to Professor
Merrill. Nor do I particularly blame Budaeus for not constructing a new text from the wealth of material
disclosed in the Parisinus. His interests lay elsewhere; suos quoique mos. What I mean to say, and to say with
some conviction, is that for the portion of text included in our fragment, the evidence of that fragment,
coupled with that of B and F, shows that as a witness to the ancient manuscript Aldus is overwhelmingly
superior to either Budaeus or any of the ancient editors.

Our examination of the Morgan fragment, therefore, leads to what I deem a highly probable conclusion. We
could perhaps hope for absolute proof in a matter of this kind only if another page of the same manuscript
should appear, bearing a note in the hand of Aldus Manutius to the effect that he had used the codex for his
edition of 1508. Failing that, we can at least point out that all the data accessible comport with the hypothesis
that the Morgan fragment was a part of this very codex. We have set our hypothesis running a lengthy gauntlet
of facts, and none has tripped it yet. We have also seen that Î is most intimately connected with manuscripts
BF of Class I, and indeed seems to be a part of the very manuscript whence they are descended. Finally, a
careful comparison of AldusâΠ–s text 63 with Î shows him, for this much of the Letters at least, to be a
scrupulous and conscientious editor. His method is to follow Î throughout, save when, confronted by its
obvious blunders, he has recourse to the editions of his day.

The latest criticism of Aldus Since the publication of OttoâΠ–s article in 1886, 68 in which the author
defended the F branch against that of MV, to which, as the elder representative of the tradition, Keil had not
unnaturally deferred, critical procedure has gradually shifted its centre. The reappearance of B greatly helped,
as it corroborates the testimony of F. B and F head the list of the manuscripts used by Kukula in his edition of
1912,69 and B and F with AldusâΠ–s Parisinus make up Class I, not Class II, in MerrillâΠ–s grouping of the
manuscripts. Obviously, the value of Class I mounts higher still now that we have evidence in the Morgan
fragment of its existence in the early sixth century. This fact helps us to decide the question of glosses in our
text. We are more than ever disposed to attribute not to BF but to what has now become the younger branch of
the tradition, Class II, the tendency to interpolate explanatory glosses. The changed attitude towards the BF
branch has naturally resulted in a gradual transformation of the text. We have seen in the portion included in Î
that of the eleven readings which Keil regarded as errors of the F branch, three are accepted by Kukula and
five by Merrill.70

EDITORIAL METHODS OF ALDUS. 52


Pliny Letters, Fragment

Since Class I has thus appreciated in value, we should expect that AldusâΠ–s stock would also take an upward
turn. In AldusâΠ–s lifetime, curiously, he was criticized for excessive conservatism. His rival Catanaeus finds
his chief quality supina ignorantia and adds:71

âΠ–Verum enim uero non satis est recuperare venerandae vetustatis exemplaria, nisi etiam simul adsit acre
emendatoris iudicium: quoniam et veteres librarii in voluminibus describendis saepissime falsi sunt, et Plinius
ipse scripta sua se viuo deprauari in quadam epistola demonstrauerit.âΠ–

Nowadays, however, editors hesitate to accept an unsupported reading of Aldus as that of the Parisinus, since
they believe that he abounds in those very conjectures of which Catanaeus felt the lack. The attitude of the
expert best qualified to judge is still one of suspicion towards Aldus. In his most recent article,72 Professor
Merrill declares that KeilâΠ–s remarks73 on the procedure of Aldus in the part of Book X already edited by
Avantius, Beroaldus, and Catanaeus might safely have been extended to cover the work of Aldus on the entire
body of the Letters. He proceeds to subject Aldus to a new test, the material for which we owe to MerrillâΠ–s
own researches. He compares with AldusâΠ–s text the manuscript parts of the Bodleian 64 volume, which are
apparently transcripts from the Parisinus (= I);74 in them Budaeus with his own hand (= i) has corrected on
the authority of the Parisinus itself, according to Merrill, the errors of his transcriber. In a few instances,
Merrill allows, Budaeus has substituted conjectures of his own. This material, obviously, offers a valuable
criterion of AldusâΠ–s methods as an editor. There is a further criterion in the shape of Codex M, not utilized
till after AldusâΠ–s edition. As this manuscript represents Class II, concurrences between M and Ii against a
make it tolerably certain that Aldus himself and no higher authority is responsible for such readings. On this
basis, Merrill cites twenty-five readings in the added part of Book VIII (viii, 3 quas obvias—xviii, II
amplissimos hortos) and nineteen readings in the added part of Book X (letters iv-xli), which represent
examples âΠ–wherein Aldus abandons indubitably satisfactory readings of his only and much belauded
manuscript in favor of conjectures of his own.âΠ–75 Letter IX xvi, a very short affair, added by Budaeus in the
margin, contains no indictment against Aldus.

AldusâΠ–s methods in the newly discovered parts of Books VIII, IX, and X The result of this
exposure, Professor Merrill declares, should convince âΠ–any unprejudiced studentâΠ– of the question that
âΠ–Aldus stands clearly convicted of being an extremely unsafe textual critic of PlinyâΠ–s Letters.âΠ–76 âΠ–This
conclusion does not depend, as that of Keil necessarily did, on any native or acquired acuteness of critical
perception. The wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein.âΠ–77 I speak as a wayfarer, but
nevertheless I must own that Professor MerrillâΠ–s path of argument causes me to stumble. I readily admit that
Aldus, in editing a portion of text that no man had put into print before him, fell back on conjecture when his
authority seemed not to make sense. But MerrillâΠ–s lists need revision. He has included with AldusâΠ–s
âΠ–willful deviationsâΠ– from the true text of P certain readings that almost surely were misprints (218, 12; 220,
3), some that may well be (as 217, 28; 221, 12), one case in which Aldus has retained an error of P while I
emends (221, 11), and several cases in which Aldus and I or i emend in different ways an error of P (222, 14;
226, 5; 272, 4—not 5). In one case he misquotes Aldus, when the latter really has the reading that both
Merrill and Keil indicate as correct (276, 21); in another he fails to remark that AldusâΠ–s erroneous reading is
supported by M (219,17). However, even after discounting these and possibly other instances, a significant
array of conjectures remains. Still, it is not fair to call the Parisinus AldusâΠ–s only manuscript. We know that
he had other material in the six volumes of manuscripts and collated editions sent him by Giocondo, as well as
the latterâΠ–s copy of P. There could hardly have been in this number a source superior to the Parisinus, but
Giocondo may have added here and there his own or othersâΠ– conjectures, which Aldus adopted unwisely, but
at least not solely on his own authority; the most 65 apparent case of interpolation (224, 8) Keil thought might
have been a conjecture of GiocondoâΠ–s. Further, if the general character of P is represented in Î , Book X, as
well as the beginning of Book III, may have had variants by the second hand, sometimes taken by Aldus and
neglected, wisely, by BudaeusâΠ–s transcriber.

EDITORIAL METHODS OF ALDUS. 53


Pliny Letters, Fragment

The Morgan fragment the best criterion of Aldus With the discovery of the Morgan fragment, a new
criterion of Aldus is offered. I believe that it is the surest starting-point from which to investigate AldusâΠ–s
relation to his ancient manuscript. I admit that for Book X, Avantius and the Bodleian volume in its added
parts are better authorities for the Parisinus than is Aldus. I admit that Aldus resorted throughout the text of
the Letters—in some cases unhappily—to the customary editorial privilege of emendation. But I
nevertheless maintain that for the entire text he is a much better authority than the Bodleian volume as a
whole, and that he should be given, not absolute confidence, but far more confidence than editors have thus
far allowed him. Nor is the section of text preserved in the fragment of small significance for our purpose.
Indeed, both for Aldus and in general, I think it even more valuable than a corresponding amount of Book X
would be. We could wish that it were longer, but at least it includes a number of crucial readings and above all
vouches for the existence of the indices some two hundred years before the date previously assigned for their
compilation. It also supplies a final confirmation of the value of Class I; indeed, B and F, the manuscripts of
this class, appear to have descended from the very manuscript of which Î was a part. We see still more clearly
than before that BF can be used elsewhere in the Letters as a test of Aldus, and we also note that these
manuscripts contain errors not in the Parisinus. This is a highly important factor for forming a true estimate of
Aldus and one that we could not deduce from a fragment of Book X, which BF do not contain.

Conclusion I conclude, then, that the Morgan fragment is a piece of the Parisinus, and that we may compare
with AldusâΠ–s text the very words which he studied out, carefully collated, and treated with a decent respect.
On the basis of the new information furnished us by the fragment, I shall endeavor, at some future time, to
confirm my present judgement of Aldus by testing him in the entire text of PlinyâΠ–s Letters. Further, despite
MerrillâΠ–s researches and his brilliant analysis, I am not convinced that the last word has been spoken on the
nature of the transcript made for Budaeus and incorporated in the Bodleian volume. I will not, however,
venture on this broad field until Professor Merrill, who has the first right to speak, is enabled to give to the
world his long-expected edition. Meanwhile, if my view is right, we owe to the acquisition of the ancient
fragment by the Pierpont Morgan Library a new confidence in the integrity of Aldus, a clearer understanding
of the history of the Letters in the early Middle Ages, and a surer method of editing their text.

Notes to Part II

37 1. I would acknowledge most gratefully the help given me in the preparation of this part of our discussion by
Professor E. T. Merrill, of the University of Chicago. Professor Merrill, whose edition of the Letters of Pliny has
long been in the hands of Teubner, placed at my disposal his proof-sheets for the part covered in the Morgan
fragment, his preliminary apparatus criticus for the entire text of the Letters, and a card-catalogue of the readings
of B and F. He patiently answered numerous questions and subjected the first draft of my argument to a searching
criticism which saved me from errors in fact and in expression. But Professor Merrill should not be held responsible
for errors that remain or for my estimate of the Morgan fragment.
2. On Petrus Leander, see Merrill in Classical Philology V (1910), pp. 451 f.
38 3. C.P. II (1907), pp. 134 f.
4. C.P. X (1915), pp. 18 f.
5. By Merrill, C.P. V (1910), pp. 455 ff.
6. Sandys, A History of Classical Studies II (1908), pp. 99 ff.
39 7. C.P. II, p. 135.
8. See plate XVII, which shows the insertion in Book VIII.
9. Journal of Philology XVII (1888), pp. 95 ff., and in the introduction to his edition of the Tenth Book (1889), pp.
75 ff.
10. See Merrill C.P. II, p. 136.
40 11. C.P. II, pp. 129 ff.
12. In his edition, pp. xxiii f.
13. C.P. II, p. 152.
14. C.P. V, p. 466.

Notes to Part II 54
Pliny Letters, Fragment

15. C.P. II, p. 156.


41 16. See Dr. LoweâΠ–s remarks, pp. 3-6 above.
17. See above, p. 21, and below, p. 53.
42 18. The spellings Karet and Karitas, whether PlinyâΠ–s or not, are a sign of antiquity. In the first century A.D.,
as we see from Velius Longus (p. 53, 12 K) and Quintilian (I, 7, 10), certain old-timers clung to the use of k for c
when the vowel a followed. By the fourth century, theorists of the opposite tendency proposed the abandonment of
k and q as superfluous letters, since their functions were performed by c. Donatus (p. 368, 7 K) and Diomedes, too,
according to Keil (p. 423, 11), still believed in the rule of ka for ca, but these rigid critics had passed away in the
time of Servius, who, in his commentary on Donatus (p. 422, 35 K), remarks k vero et q aliter nos utimur, aliter
usi sunt maiores nostri. Namque illi, quotienscumque a sequebatur, k praeponebant in omni parte orationis,
ut Kaput et similia; nos vero non usurpamus k litteram nisi in Kalendarum nomine scribendo. See also
Cledonius (p. 28, 5K); W. Brambach, Latein. Orthog. 1868, pp. 210 ff.; W. M. Lindsay, The Latin Language,
1894, pp. 6 f. There would thus be no temptation for a scribe at the end of the fifth century or the beginning of the
sixth to adopt ka for ca as a habit. The writer of our fragment was copying faithfully from his original a spelling
that he apparently would not have used himself. There are various other cases of ca in our text (e.g., calceos, III, i,
4; canere, 11), but there we find the usual spelling. On traces of ka in the Bellovacensis, see below, p. 57. I should
not be surprised if Pliny himself employed the spelling ka, which was gradually modified in the successive copies
of his work; it may be, however, that our manuscript represents a text which had passed through the hand of some
archaeologizing scholar of a later age, like Donatus. At any rate, this feature of our fragment is an indication of
genuineness and of antiquity.
44 19. C.P. X (1915), pp. 8 ff. A classified list of the manuscripts of the Letters is given by Miss Dora Johnson in
C.P. VII (1912), pp. 66 ff.
20. Pal. des Class. Lat. pl. CXLIII. See our plates XIII and XIV. At least as early as the thirteenth century, the
manuscript was at Beauvais. The ancient press-mark S. Petri Beluacensis, in writing perhaps of the twelfth
century, may still be discerned on the recto of the first folio. See Merrill, C.P. X, p. 16. If the book was written at
Beauvais, as Chatelain thinks (Journal des Savants, 1900, p. 48), then something like what I call the mid-century
style of Fleury was also cultivated, possibly a bit later, in the north. The Beauvais Horace, Leidensis lat. 28 saec. IX
(Chatelain, pl. LXXVIII), shows a certain similarity in the script to that of B. If both were done at Beauvais, the
Horace would seem to be the later book. It belongs, we may observe, to a group of manuscripts of which a
Floriacensis (Paris lat. 7971) is a conspicuous member. To settle the case of B, we need a study of all the books of
Beauvais. For this, a valuable preliminary survey is given by Omont in Mém. de lâΠ–Acad. des Ins. et Belles
Lettres XL (1914), pp. 1 ff.
21. Specimina Cod. Lat. Vatic. 1912, pl. 30. See also H. M. Bannister, Paleografia Musicale Vaticana 1913, p.
30, No. 109.
22. See the preface to his edition, p. xi.
45 23. For the script of F, see plates XV and XVI. Bern. 136, s. XIII (Merrill, C.P. X, p. 18) is a copy of F.
24. Cod. Med. LXVIII, 1. See Rostagno in the preface to his edition of this manuscript in the Leyden series, and for
the Pliny, Chatelain, Pal. des Class. Lat., pl. CXLV. Keil (edition, p. vi), followed by Kukula (edition, p. iv),
incorrectly assigns the manuscript to the tenth century. The latest treatment is by Paul Lehmann in his âΠ–Corveyer
Studien,âΠ– in Abhandl. der Bayer. Akad. der Wiss. Philos.-philol. u. hist. Klasse, XXX, 5 (1919), p. 38. He
assigns it to the middle or the last half of the ninth century.
25. Chatelain calls the page of Pliny that he reproduces (pl. CXLIV) tenth century, but attributes the Sallust portion
of the manuscript, although this seems of a piece with the style of the Pliny, to the ninth; see pl. LIV. Hauler, who
has given the most complete account of the manuscript, thinks it âΠ–saec. IX/XâΠ– (Wiener Studien XVII (1895), p.
124). He shows, as others had done before him, the close association of the book with Bernensis 357, and of that
codex with Fleury.
26. See Merrill C.P. X, p. 23. The catalogue (G. Becker, Catalogi bibliothecarum antiqui, p. 282) was prepared
about 1200, and is of Corbie, not as Merrill has it, Corvey. Chatelain (on plate LIV) regards the book as
âΠ–provenant du monastère de Corbie.âΠ– At my request, Mr. H. J. Leon, Sheldon Fellow of Harvard University,
recently examined the manuscript, and neither he nor Monsignore Mercati, the Prefect of the Vatican Library, could
discover any note or library-mark to indicate that the book is a Corbeiensis. In a recent article, Philol. Quart. I

Notes to Part II 55
Pliny Letters, Fragment

(1922), pp. 17 ff.), Professor Ullman is inclined, after a careful analysis of the evidence, to assign the manuscript to
Corbie, but allows for the possibility that it was written in Tours or the neighborhood and thence sent to Corbie.
27. C.P. X, p. 23.
46 28. See Paul Lehmann, âΠ–Aufgaben und Anregungen der lateinischen Philologie des Mittelalters,âΠ– in
Sitzungsberichte der Bayer. Akad. der Wiss. Philos.-philol. u. hist. Klasse, 1918, 8, pp. 14 ff. I am indebted to
Professor Lehmann for the facts on the basis of which I have made the statement above. To quote his exact words,
the contents of the manuscript are as follows: âΠ–Fol. 1-31 v Briefe des Hierononymus u. Gregorius Magnus + fol.
46v-47v, Briefe des Plinius an Tacitus u. Albinus, in kontinentaler, wohl Regensburger Minuskel etwa der Mitte
des 9ten Jahrhunderts, unter starken insularen (angelsächsischen) Einfluss in Buchstabenformen,
Abkürzungen, etc. Fol. 32 r saec. IXex vel Xin. fol. 32v-46r in der Hauptsache direkt insular mit historischen
Notizen in festländischer Style. Fol. 48 v-128 Ambrosius saec. Xin.âΠ–
29. Commentatiuncula de C. Plinii Caecilii Secundi epistularum fragmento Vossiano notis tironianis
descripto (in Exercitationes Palaeog. in Bibl. Univ. Lugduno-Bat., 1890). De Vries ascribes the fragment to the
ninth century and is sure that the writing is French (p. 12). His reproduction, though not photographic, gives an
essentially correct idea of the script. The text of the fragment is inferior to that of MV, with which manuscripts it is
undoubtedly associated. In one error it agrees with V against M. Chatelain (Introduction à la Lecture des Notes
Tironiennes, 1900), though citing De VriesâΠ–s publication in his bibliography (p. xv), does not discuss the
character of the notes in this fragment. I must leave it for experts in tachygraphy to decide whether the style of the
Tironian notes is that of the school of Orléans.
30. See MerrillâΠ–s discussion of the different possibilities, C.P. X, p. 14.
47 31. C.P. X, p. 20.
48 32. I have not always followed Dr. Lowe in distinguishing first and second hands in the various alterations
discussed here (pp. 48-50).
33. See above, p. 42.
34. See above, pp. 11 f.
49 35. See plates XIII-XIV.
36. See plate XIV.
50 37. There are one or two divergencies in spelling hardly worth mention. The most important are 63, 10 caret B
KARET Î ; caritas B KARITAS Î . Yet see below, p. 57, where it is shown that the ancient spelling is found in B
elsewhere than in the portion of text included in Î .
51 38. C.P. V, pp. 467 ff. and 476 ff., and for the supposed lack of indices in P, p. 485.
39. I venture to disagree with Dr. LoweâΠ–s view (above, p. 25) that the addition is by the first hand.
40. See above, p. 11.
41. See plate XIV.
52 42. See above, pp. 48 f.
53 43. See above, p. 44, n. 2.
44. âΠ–Zur frühen Ueberlieferungsgeschichte des Briefwechsels zwischen Plinius und Trajan,âΠ– in Wiener
Studien XXXI (1909), p. 258.
45. See above, pp. 21, 41.
54 46. See above, p. 22.
47. The Descent of Manuscripts, 1918, p. 16. Professor Clark counts on two pages chosen at random, 23-31 letters
in the line. My count for Î includes the nine and a third pages on which full lines occur. If I had taken only foll. 52 r,
52v, 53r and 53v, I should have found no lines of 32 or 33 letters. On the other hand, the first page to which I turned
in the Vindobonensis of Livy (133 v) has a line of 32 letters, and so has 135 v, while 136v has one of 33. The lines of
Î are a shade longer than those of the Vindobonensis, but only a shade.
55 48. Ibidem, pp. vi, 9-18. There is some danger of pushing Professor ClarkâΠ–s method too far, particularly when
it is applied to New Testament problems. For a well-considered criticism of the book, see MerrillâΠ–s review in the
Classical Journal XIV (1919), pp. 395 ff.
57 49. See above, pp. 42, n. 1, and 50, n. 1.
58 50. See the introduction to his edition, p. xviii.
51. See below, pp. 60 ff.

Notes to Part II 56
Pliny Letters, Fragment

52. Op. cit., p. xxv: illis potissimum Aldum usum esse vidi.
53. Op. cit., pp. xviii, xx.
54. Op. cit., p. 2: Ex Ï– pauca adscripta sunt.
55. Op. cit., p. xxxii.
59 56. See RibbeckâΠ–s Virgil, Prolegomena, p. 152.
57. See plate XVIII.
58. Epist. III, i (plate IV).
59. See plate XVIII.
60 60. See above, p. 47.
61. The readings of manuscripts are taken from Merrill, those of the editions from Keil; in the latter case, I use
parentheses if the reading is only implied, not stated.
61 62. I say âΠ–possibleâΠ– because the reading is implied, not stated, in KeilâΠ–s edition. The reading of Beroaldus
on 63, 23 I get from our photograph, not from Keil, who does not give it.
63. I have purposely omitted to treat AldusâΠ–s use of the superscriptions in P, as that matter is best reserved for a
consideration of the superscriptions in general.
64. See above, p. 58.
65. See above, pp. 47 f.
62 66. See Merrill, âΠ–Zur frühen Ueberlieferungsgeschichte des Briefwechsels zwischen Plinius und Trajan,âΠ– in
Wiener Studien XXXI (1909), p. 257; C.P. II, p. 154; XIV, p. 30 f. Two examples (216, 23 and 227, 18) will be
noted in plate XVII a.
67. Certain errors of the scribe who wrote the additional pages in the Bodleian book warrant the surmise that he was
copying not the Parisinus itself, but some copy of it. Thus in 227, 14 (see plate XVII b) we find him writing Tamen
for tum, Budaeus correcting this error in the margin. A scribe is of course capable of anything, but with an uncial
tum to start from, tamen is not a natural mistake to commit; it would rather appear that the scribe falsely resolved a
minuscule abbreviation.
63 68. âΠ–Die Ueberlieferung der Briefe des jüngeren Plinius,âΠ– in Hermes XXI (1886), pp. 287 ff.
69. See p. iv.
70. See above, pp. 47 f.
71. See the prefatory letter in his edition of 1518.
72. C.P. XIV (1919), pp. 29 ff.
73. Op. cit., p. xxxvii: nam ea quae aliter in Aldina editione atque in illis (i.e., Avantius, Beroaldus, and Catanaeus)
exhibentur ita comparata sunt omnia, ut coniectura potius inventa quam e codice profecta esse existimanda sint et
plura quidem in pravis et temerariis interpolationibus versantur.
64 74. But see above, p. 62, n. 2.
75. Pp. 31 ff.
76. P. 33.
77. P. 30.

67

DESCRIPTION OF PLATES.

Large plates are shown at about 3/4 original size.


Nos. I-XII. New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, MS. M. 462. A fragment of 12 pages of an uncial
manuscript of the early sixth century. The fragment contains PlinyâΠ–s Letters, Book II, xx. 13—Book
III, v. 4. For a detailed description, see above, pp. 3 ff. The entire fragment is here given, very slightly
reduced. The exact size of the script is shown in Plate XX.

DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 57
Pliny Letters, Fragment

Plate I Plate II Plate III Plate IV

Plate V Plate VI Plate VII Plate VIII

Plate IX Plate X Plate XI Plate XII


XIII-XIV. Florence, Laurentian Library MS. Ashburnham R 98, known as Codex Bellovacensis (B) or
Riccardianus (R), written in Caroline minuscule of the ninth century. See above, p. 44. Our plates reproduce
fols. 9 and 9v (slightly reduced), containing the end of Book II and the beginning of Book III.

DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 58
Pliny Letters, Fragment

Plate XIII Plate XIV


XV-XVI. Florence, Laurentian Library MS. San Marco 284, written in Caroline minuscule of the tenth
century. See above, pp. 44 f. Our plates reproduce fols. 56v and 57r, containing the end of Book II and the
beginning of Book III.

Plate XV Plate XVI


XVII-XVIII. Oxford, Bodleian Library, Auct. L 4. 3. See above, pp. 39 f. The lacuna in Book VIII (216,
27-227, 10 Keil) is indicated by a cross (+) on fol. 136v (plate XVIIa). The missing text is supplied on added
leaves by the hand shown on plate XVIIb (= fol. 144). The variants are in the hand of Budaeus. Plate XVIII
contains fols. 32v and 33, showing the end of Book II and the beginning of Book III.

Plate XVII Plate XVIII

DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 59
Pliny Letters, Fragment

XIX. Aldine edition of PlinyâΠ–s Letters, Venice 1508. Our plate reproduces the end
of Book II and the beginning of Book III.

Plate XIX
XX. Specimens of three uncial manuscripts:

(a) Berlin, Königl. Bibl. Lat. 4º 298, circa a. 447.

(b) New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, MS. M. 462, circa a. 500 (exact size).

(c) Fulda, Codex Bonifatianus 1, ante a. 547.

Plate XX

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